title: The effect of selected staining techniques on bull sperm morphometry.
abstract: Sperm morphometry has some value as an indicator of reproductive capacity in males. In laboratory practice a variety of slide-staining methods are used during morphological evaluation of semen to predict male fertility. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of staining of semen using four different techniques on the morphometry of the bull sperm cell. The material for the study consisted of semen collected from test bulls of the Black-and-White variety of Holstein-Friesians. The results obtained in the study indicate differences in the dimensions of bull sperm heads when different slide staining techniques were used. The most similar results for sperm head dimensions were obtained in the case of SpermBlue(®) and eosin+gentian violet complex, although statistically significant differences were found between all the staining techniques. Extreme values were noted for the other staining techniques - lowest for the Papanicolaou and highest for silver nitrate, which may indicate more interference in the cell by the reagents used in the staining process. However, silver nitrate staining was best at identifying the structures of the sperm cell. Hence it is difficult to determine which of the staining methods most faithfully reveals the dimensions and shape of the bull sperm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breeding Methods and Poultry and Small Ruminant Breeding, Institute of Bioengineering and Animal Breeding, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, 14 Prusa Str., 08-110 Siedlce, Poland.
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Banaszewska
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Genetics and Horse Breeding, Institute of Bioengineering and Animal Breeding, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, 14 Prusa Str., 08-110 Siedlce, Poland. Electronic address: andrasz@uph.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Andraszek
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Genetics and Horse Breeding, Institute of Bioengineering and Animal Breeding, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, 14 Prusa Str., 08-110 Siedlce, Poland.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Czubaszek
authors.affiliation: Department of Breeding Methods and Poultry and Small Ruminant Breeding, Institute of Bioengineering and Animal Breeding, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, 14 Prusa Str., 08-110 Siedlce, Poland.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Biesiada-Drzazga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS) / Q000378:metabolism; D005840:Gentian Violet / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D065006:Papanicolaou Test / Q000379:methods; D012661:Semen / Q000378:metabolism; D012835:Silver Nitrate / Q000378:metabolism; D013075:Sperm Capacitation; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents; D012835:Silver Nitrate; D005840:Gentian Violet; D004801:Eosine Yellowish-(YS)
keywords: Bull; Morphometry; Sperm; Spermatozoon; Tygerberg criteria