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Sperm volumetric dynamics during in vitro capacitation process in bovine spermatozoa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2015

M. García-Herreros  and
C. L. V. Leal
M. García-Herreros*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA), Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga, Brazil Academic Unit of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (UA-CAREN), Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology Laboratory, Technical University of Cotopaxi (UTC), Latacunga, Ecuador
C. L. V. Leal
Affiliation:
Faculty of Animal Science and Food Engineering (FZEA), Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), Pirassununga, Brazil
*
†E-mail: herrerosgm@gmail.com
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Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that sperm head morphometry can be used as a potential diagnostic tool for detecting biophysical changes associated with sperm viability in bovine spermatozoa. In this study, sperm head morphometry was used to investigate its value as a biophysical marker for detecting volumetric changes in bovine spermatozoa under in vitro capacitating and non-capacitating incubation conditions. To further test this hypotesis, aliquots of pooled, washed bovine sperm were incubated in either Tyrode’s complete medium with heparin (TCMH; a capacitating medium containing Ca2+, NaHCO3 and heparin), Tyrode’s complete medium heparin-free (TCM; a medium containing just Ca2+ and NaHCO3) or Tyrode’s basal medium (TBM; a non-capacitating medium free of Ca2+, NaHCO3 and heparin, used as control). Aliquots of sperm were processed for morphometric analysis at different incubation-time intervals (0, 3 and 6 h at 38°C), and the chlortetracycline assay was used simultaneously to confirm the ability of the sperm to undergo capacitation (B pattern) and the acrosome reaction (AR pattern) status in each medium. After 3 h of incubation under TCMH conditions, a significant increase was observed in the percentage of B and AR patterns and a significant decrease was found in all sperm morphometric parameters (P<0.01). Interestingly, after 6 h of incubation in TCMH, the percentage of B and AR patterns increased drastically over time and marked differences were found in the dimensional and shape parameters, which were significantly smaller compared with TBM or TCM media (P<0.001). Significant correlations were observed between sperm size and AR pattern (r=−0.875, P<0.01). In conclusion, sperm head morphometry can be used as a potential biophysical marker for detecting volumetric changes during capacitation process in bovine spermatozoa.

Keywords

sperm morphometrysperm capacitationacrosome reactionbovine spermatozoabiophysical marker
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 9 , Supplement 6 , June 2015 , pp. 1016 - 1024
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2015 

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