title: Osmotic effects on volume and motility of bull sperm exposed to membrane permeable and nonpermeable agents.
abstract: Factorially arranged experiments were designed to study prefreeze packed cell volume (PCV) changes and associated percentages of motile and unstained bull sperm in simple macromolecule-free Tyrode's solution and egg yolk-Tris (EYT), varying in osmolarity, and with addition of rapidly permeating cryoprotectants, glycerol and 1,2-propanediol, and nonpermeating substances, sucrose and NaCl. The percentage of motile and unstained sperm was assessed after resuspending sperm in 300 mOsm/L Tyrode's solution. At 25 degreesC PCV increased in Tyrode's solution as osmolarity was decreased from 250 to 150 mOsm/L and decreased as Tyrode's solution was increased to 400 mosmol/L. The relationship of PCV to the reciprocal of the osmolarity was essentially linear over the range of 150 to 400 mOsm/L, but PCV did not decrease further in solutions ranging from 500 to 1000 mOsm/L. The percentage of motile sperm declined to zero in Tyrode's solution at 700 mOsm/L, but 40% of the sperm were still unstained in 1000 mOsm/L solutions. The addition of glycerol or 1,2-propanediol had little effect on PCV. With glycerol or 1,2-propanediol added to 308 mOsm/L Tyrode's solution to give a total of 1267 mOsm/L, there were 49 and 56% motile sperm, respectively, compared to 1% with NaCl added to give 787 mOsm/L. The PCV and percentage of motile sperm suspended in EYT responded to osmotic changes similar to those reported for Tyrode's solution at both 25 and 5 degreesC. Some sperm remained motile after initial exposure to 800 mOsm/L solutions. These findings may have application in improving bull sperm cryopreservation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Foote
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D048429:Cell Size; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods*; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D005947:Glucose; D005990:Glycerol / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007552:Isotonic Solutions; D008297:Male; D009995:Osmosis; D019946:Propylene Glycol / Q000494:pharmacology; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013395:Sucrose / Q000494:pharmacology; D014325:Tromethamine
chemical_list: D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; D007552:Isotonic Solutions; C077847:TES-Tris yolk buffer; C037692:Tyrode's solution; D014325:Tromethamine; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013395:Sucrose; D019946:Propylene Glycol; D005947:Glucose; D005990:Glycerol