title: Unilateral intrauterine insemination with prostatic fluid-sensitized frozen caudal epididymal sperm in beagle dogs.
abstract: The effects of the absence or presence of prostatic fluid (PF) during cauda epididymal sperm retrieval were assessed as regards semen quality after freezing semen in egg yolk Tris-fructose citrate solution (EYT-FC). Epididymal spermatozoa from the left testis of each of 10 dogs was retrieved into PF, whereas that from the right testis into EYT-FC only. At sperm recovery, the only difference between the two groups was that the incidence of spermatozoa with cytoplasmic droplets (immature sperm) was lower in the PF group (P < 0.01). In contrast, after freezing-thawing, (mean +/- S.E.) sperm motility (32.0 +/- 1.4 versus 12.5 +/- 2.0%, P < 0.01) and viability (58.2 +/- 3.5 versus 41.8 +/- 5.6%, P < 0.05) were higher in the PF group than in the EYT-FC group, respectively. Furthermore, 25.6 +/- 2.7% spermatozoa in the PF group were still motile after being maintained at 20 degrees C for 6 h. The incidence of immature spermatozoa post-thaw was lower compared to that after recovery in the EYT-FC group (P < 0.01), but was still higher than that in the PF group (P < 0.05). Frozen-thawed spermatozoa (2 x 10(8)) were used for unilateral intrauterine AI. The conception rate of PF-unsensitized sperm was 20% (2/10), but that of PF-sensitized sperm was 80% (8/10; P < 0.01). Therefore, sperm recovered in PF and frozen-thawed were of good quality. Sensitization of epididymal sperm with PF before freezing clearly improved the conception rate to AI of spermatozoa derived from the cauda epididymus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproduction, Nippon Veterinary and Animal Science University 7-1, 1 chome, Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan. t-hori@nvau.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Kumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hagiuda
authors.forename: Eiichi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Toshihiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsutsui
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000502:physiology*; D019343:Citric Acid; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000662:veterinary; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D004530:Egg Yolk; D004822:Epididymis / Q000166:cytology*; D005632:Fructose; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D011467:Prostate / Q000502:physiology*; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000662:veterinary; D012996:Solutions; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology*; D014325:Tromethamine
chemical_list: D012996:Solutions; D014325:Tromethamine; D019343:Citric Acid; D005632:Fructose