title: A potential relationship between the acrosome response characteristics of bovine spermatozoa and their in vitro fertilizing ability.
abstract: The aim of the work was to study a potential relationship between acrosome response characteristics of bovine spermatozoa and their ability to fertilize oocytes and produce in vitro embryos. Sperm of artificial insemination bulls with a high rate (22.0 +/- 4.1%, group A, n = 7) or a low rate (10.3 +/- 4.1%, group B, n = 8) of embryos were used. For acrosome assessment, motile spermatozoa from a Percoll gradient were incubated with or without heparin and examined by the fix-vital sperm assay (FVSA). The differences between the heparin-treated (H+) and the non-treated (H-) spermatozoa were significant (p < 0.01) in all bulls at all tested intervals. According to the kinetics of the heparin response, the bulls fell into three categories: fast (FR, n = 7), moderate (MR, n = 5) or slow (SR, n = 3) acrosome responses (p < 0.01). Five MR bulls were found in group A in comparison with two MR bulls in group B (57.1 vs 12.5%; p < 0.05). Intensity of the acrosome response (response index) was significantly higher in bull group A compared with bull group B (7.0 vs 4.6, p < 0.01). A positive correlation was recorded between response index and embryo rate (r = 0.668, p < 0.01). In conclusion (a) the kinetics of spermatozoa response to heparin may be important for in vitro fertilization, bulls with a moderate response appearing to be most suitable for embryo production; (b) greater spermatozoa response to heparin was related to more effective embryo production.
authors.affiliation: Department of Farm Animal Breeding, Faculty of Agronomy, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Molnarova
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Machatkova
authors.forename: Ladislav
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Machal
authors.forename: Jindra
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horakova
authors.forename: Katerina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanzalova
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D020101:Acrosome Reaction; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000196:embryology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary*; D006493:Heparin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D013075:Sperm Capacitation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D006493:Heparin