title: Artificial insemination with seminal plasma improves the reproductive performance of frozen-thawed boar epididymal spermatozoa.
abstract: Frozen-thawed epididymal spermatozoa have good fertilization capability in  vitro; however, their artificial insemination conception rate is less than  half of that of frozen-thawed ejaculated spermatozoa. Because the addition of  seminal plasma to the thawing solution enhances the in vivo fertilizing  ability of frozen-thawed ejaculated spermatozoa, we hypothesized that the  reproductive performance of frozen-thawed epididymal spermatozoa could also be  improved by the inclusion of seminal plasma. When frozenthawed epididymal  spermatozoa were incubated for up to 6 hours, the motility of the sperm  significantly decreased in a time-dependent manner. The acrosomal membrane was  damaged in the majority of frozen-thawed epididymal spermatozoa. The addition  of seminal plasma to the thawing solution significantly decreased the  percentage of sperm with abnormal acrosomes and increased their total motility  in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the addition of seminal plasma  reduced the abundance of a 15-kDa tyrosinephosphorylated protein in  frozen-thawed sperm, and the maximum effect was observed at 15% (vol/vol)  seminal plasma. When cryopreserved epididymal spermatozoa from 3 different  boars were thawed with a 15% (vol/vol) seminal plasma-containing solution, the  conception rate and mean litter size obtained by artificial insemination were  significantly increased as compared with those in the control without seminal  plasma. From these results, we concluded that the addition of seminal plasma  to the thawing solution is a key step in obtaining an optimal number of  piglets by artificial insemination using frozen-thawed boar epididymal  spermatozoa.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, 739-8528, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuji
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Teiichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akiyoshi
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Hisanori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Teshima
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000662:veterinary*; D004542:Ejaculation; D004822:Epididymis; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary*; D008098:Litter Size; D008297:Male; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction; D012661:Semen / Q000502:physiology*; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000662:veterinary*; D013081:Sperm Motility; D053625:Sperm Retrieval / Q000662:veterinary*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D013552:Swine; D013997:Time Factors; D014443:Tyrosine
chemical_list: D014443:Tyrosine