title: Sperm DNA integrity in frozen-thawed semen from Italian Mediterranean Buffalo bulls and its relationship to in vivo fertility.
abstract: The relationship among sperm attributes of DNA integrity, sperm motility, morphology, viability, acrosome integrity and in vivo fertility of frozen-thawed Italian Mediterranean Buffalo (IMB) sperm has not been reported. Straws of frozen-thawed semen samples from three bulls were examined. Sperm DNA assays (i.e., neutral Comet assay, Sperm Bos Halomax-SBH and Sperm Chromatin Structure Assay-SCSA) were not correlated to each other (P>0.05). Many neutral Comet assay measures were correlated to total sperm motility-TMOT (% head-H-DNA, r=0.74; Olive moment, r=-0.76; P<0.05) and coiled tails (r-values ranged from% H-DNA, r=-0.80 to tail length, r=-0.71; P<0.05). The COMP-αt was negatively correlated to viable acrosome intact (VAI) sperm, and distal droplets (r=-0.60 and -0.61; P<0.05), whereas Mean-αt and Mode-αt were positively correlated to bent midpieces (r=0.63 and 0.61; P<0.05). The SBH assay was positively correlated to non-viable acrosome damaged (NVAD) sperm (r=0.60; P<0.05) and negatively correlated to viable acrosome damaged (VAD) sperm (r=-0.63; P<0.05). The overall pregnancy rate (PR-at 30 and 45d post artificial insemination-AI) and the calving rate were 57%, 55% and 45%, respectively. Among sperm features analyzed the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve was significant (P<0.05) for TMOT, NVAD, Standard Deviation-αt (SD-αt) and neutral comet measures (Olive tail moment and tail moment, % H- DNA and tail area) in estimating pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy. Electronic address: rosanna.serafini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Serafini
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Charles C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Love
authors.affiliation: Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Specie Bufalina (ANASB), 81100, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coletta
authors.affiliation: AUB-National Institute of Artificial Insemination, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mari
authors.affiliation: AUB-National Institute of Artificial Insemination, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mislei
authors.affiliation: Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Specie Bufalina (ANASB), 81100, Caserta, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Caso
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Rossella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Di Palo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002020:Buffaloes / Q000502:physiology*; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000662:veterinary; D004249:DNA Damage; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro / Q000662:veterinary; D005615:Freezing; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D012661:Semen / Q000502:physiology; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000662:veterinary*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Buffalo sperm; DNA assays; Fertility