title: The usefulness of Real Time Morphology software in semen assessment of teratozoospermic boars.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to compare two different techniques of sperm cell morphology evaluation in teratozoospermic boars: computer assisted semen morphology analysis and conventional assessment of stained semen smears. The semen samples were collected manually from 30 boars with reduced semen quality. In all samples the percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa was below 70%. Computer assisted semen morphology assessment was performed using the Real Time Morphology (RTM) software (IVOS ver. 12.2, Hamilton Thorne Bioscience). The assessment was made by phase contrast optics, with the magnification of 20 x 3.8 and without staining. Conventional morphology assessment was performed by bright field microscopy with 1,000 x magnification after staining with Giemsa. At least 200 spermatozoa were evaluated per slide in both methods. The Bland-Altman plot indicated a general agreement between both methods of sperm morphology evaluation. The plots revealed the widest limits of agreement (mean ± 1.96 SD) for the percentage of midpiece anomalies (from -16 to 13.2), and the narrowest for the percentage of looped tail (from -1.49 to 1.09). The Bland Altman plot indicates general agreement between RTM and Giemsa staining in the percentage of major and minor defects. However, it was not possible to evaluate acrosomes using RTM. Otherwise, RTM proved to be a valuable tool in sperm morphology assessment, with accuracy equal to typical conventional methods.
authors.affiliation: Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Reproduction and Clinic of Farm Animals, Wrocław, Poland. agnieszka.antonczyk@gmail.com
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Antończyk
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Niżański
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Partyka
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochota
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mila
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen; D013094:Spermatozoa; D013552:Swine