Relationship between in vitro sperm functional assessments, seminal plasma composition, and field fertility after AI with either non-sorted or sex-sorted bull semen.
The hypothesis of this study was that different in vitro parameters are required to predict the in vivo fertility of non-sorted (NS) and sex-sorted (SS) semen. Thus, the aim was to correlate in vitro bull sperm functional parameters (experiment 1) and seminal plasma composition (experiment 2) with pregnancy rates using 2 cohorts of bulls (NS and SS). Experiment 1: ejaculates from each bull (n = 3 ejaculates per bull; n = 6 bulls for both NS and SS) were assessed for motility, thermal stress tolerance and morphology using microscopy, and viability, osmotic resistance, mitochondrial membrane potential, and acrosome integrity using flow cytometry. Fertilizing ability was assessed using IVF. Experiment 2: ejaculates (n = 3 per bull; n = 8 and 6 bulls for NS and SS, respectively) were collected, seminal plasma harvested and frozen and later analyzed for amino acid and fatty acid composition using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. In the NS cohort of bulls, there was no correlation between pregnancy rate and any of the sperm functional parameters assessed. However, within the SS cohort, motility and viability were correlated with pregnancy rate (r = 0.84 and 0.80, respectively; P < 0.05). There was no correlation between IVF outcome and pregnancy rate in either the SS or NS cohort of bulls. In the NS cohort of bulls, concentrations of the amino acid isoleucine and the fatty acid tricosylic acid (C23:0) were correlated with pregnancy rate (r = 0.80 and 0.74, respectively; P < 0.05). Within the SS cohort of bulls, the amino acid glutamic acid and the fatty acid arachidic acid (C20:0) were correlated with pregnancy rate (r = 0.84 and 0.82, respectively; P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study suggests that different in vitro markers of fertility are required to predict the fertility of NS and SS sperm.
Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
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Holden
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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Fernandez-Fuertes
Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
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Murphy
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Institute of Food and Health, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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Whelan
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Institute of Food and Health, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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O'Gorman
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland; Institute of Food and Health, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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Brennan
Teagasc Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland.
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Butler
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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Lonergan
Laboratory of Animal Reproduction, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Electronic address: sean.fair@ul.ie.
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Fair
D000177:Acrosome; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D002470:Cell Survival; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D005260:Female; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary*; D008297:Male; D053078:Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial / Q000502:physiology; D011247:Pregnancy; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry*; D012743:Sex Preselection / Q000662:veterinary*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000502:physiology
Bovine; Fatty acid; Fertility; Metabolomics; Sperm