Abstract

There is controversy about whether the presence of some seminal plasma (SP) in an equine insemination dose is necessary for promoting fertility. A new technique for improving stallion sperm quality, single layer centrifugation (SLC) using a species-specific colloid, Androcoll-E, selects a sperm subpopulation that is highly motile with normal morphology, intact membranes and good chromatin integrity from the rest of the ejaculate and removes SP. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of restoring homologous SP (5% and 10%) on the progressive motility, velocity, and chromatin integrity of SLC-selected stallion spermatozoa in 44 semen samples over time. Sperm progressive motility (P < 0.01) and the proportion with class A velocity (>50 mu m/sec) were increased in samples where SP was restored, whereas the proportion with class B velocity (10 to 50 mu m/sec) was decreased compared with SLC samples. However, after 24 h cold storage of treated samples, progressive motility was not different for the SP-treated groups compared with SLC, whereas chromatin damage DNA fragmentation index (%DFI) was higher. In contrast, adding SP to untreated 24 h-stored SLC samples did not affect progressive motility although it did increase the proportion of spermatozoa with class A velocity. There was individual variation between stallions whether 5% or 10% SP produced a greater increase in progressive motility. In conclusion, 5% to 10% SP can be added back to SLC-selected samples if considered necessary to optimize fertility. However, it should be added immediately before insemination rather than before storage of the sperm dose, to benefit from the transient increase in sperm progressive motility and avoid increased chromatin damage. (c) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

SLC; Stallion spermatozoa; Seminal plasma; Motility; Chromatin integrity

Published in

Theriogenology
2012, Volume: 78, number: 2, pages: 345-352
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC

SLU Authors

• Morrell, Jane

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Dalin, Anne-Marie

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Johannisson, Anders

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science
Veterinary Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.theriogenology.2012.02.009

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/56400