Effect of swim up and Percoll treatment on viability and acrosome integrity of frozen-thawed bull spermatozoa.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the swim up and Percoll methods to select frozen-thawed bull spermatozoa with high quality membrane and acrosomal integrity and final concentration. Semen samples from six Holstein-Friesian bulls were examined. The whole experiment was repeated three times. Before and after both treatments, spermatozoa were subjected to a double-staining method and evaluated by brightfield light microscope using 40x dry, or 100x oil immersion objectives. The concentration of spermatozoa evaluated by haemocytometer was 8.8 x 10(7)/ml after thawing, and the percentage of live cells with intact acrosome was 45.8%. Both treatments significantly increased the proportion of live spermatozoa compared with no treatment, and the use of Percoll gradient resulted in a significantly higher percentage of living cells with an intact acrosome (88.2%) than the swim up method (69.4%). The concentration of spermatozoa after Percoll separation (9.3 x 10(6)/ml) was higher than that after the swim up method (5.8 x 10(6)/ml). These results indicate that spermatozoa with a higher viability and acrosome integrity can be obtained by Percoll separation than by the swim up method. Therefore the use of Percoll-treated spermatozoa in IVF systems can be more expedient.
D000177:Acrosome / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D002499:Centrifugation, Density Gradient / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary; D008297:Male; D011205:Povidone; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D013076:Sperm Count / Q000662:veterinary; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology
C016039:Percoll; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D011205:Povidone