Abstract
The effect on sperm motility and chromatin integrity of adding homologous or heterologous equine seminal plasma (SP) to fresh stallion spermatozoa selected by single layer centrifugation (SLC) was studied. No statistical difference in mean progressive motility was seen after adding SP at time 0 h, although there were differences for individual stallions. The proportion of spermatozoa with high velocity was increased compared to untreated SLC-selected spermatozoa (P < 0.05), with significant differences between individuals (P < 0.01). When the SLC samples were stored for 24 h before adding SP, a significant increase in mean progressive motility was seen for SLC + homologous SP (P < 0.01) and for SLC + heterologous SP (P < 0.056). Whether homologous SP or heterologous SP had a greater effect on progressive motility depended on the individual. Adding either type of SP caused a significant increase in chromatin damage compared to SLC after storage for 24 h (homologous SP, P < 0.05; heterologous SP, P < 0.01). These preliminary data showed that storage of SLC-spermatozoa mixed with SP should be avoided because of the risk of increased chromatin damage. If SP is to be added to take advantage of a transient increase in progressive motility for a particular individual stallion, different combinations of SP and spermatozoa should be tested first to optimize the effect.
Highlights
The effect of seminal plasma (SP), which is the noncellular component of semen, on spermatozoa is the subject of much discussion
The effect on sperm motility and chromatin integrity of adding homologous or heterologous equine seminal plasma (SP) to fresh stallion spermatozoa selected by single layer centrifugation (SLC) was studied
For stallion K, homologous SP was better than heterologous SP from both stallions M and N. The aims of this experiment were to compare the effects of adding homologous SP or heterologous SP to SLC-sperm samples on sperm motility and chromatin integrity
Summary
The effect of seminal plasma (SP), which is the noncellular component of semen, on spermatozoa is the subject of much discussion. Developed techniques for selecting robust spermatozoa for AI by colloid centrifugation [6, 7] remove all the seminal plasma from the spermatozoa, removing even the SP proteins coating the sperm surface [8]. It is not known what effect this removal has on either the spermatozoa themselves or on the mare’s uterus, stallion spermatozoa selected by single layer centrifugation (SLC) have been shown to be fertile after AI [9, 10] and to function normally in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) [11]
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