Egg Yolk Protective Effect in Boar Spermatozoa Cooled at 5ºC

Abstract

Nowadays, many boar reproduction researches are directed to improve extenders and to increase cold shock protection of semen. Little research is focused on the influence of egg yolk combined with alternative cold shock protective media. Egg yolk could interfere with other compounds present in the extender composition. The influence of egg yolk addition was assessed in boar sperm cells, cooled at 5ºC, to elucidate its effect on motility and membrane integrity. Flow Cytometry and Computer Assisted Semen Analysis (CASA) were used to determine the rate of sperm with intact plasma and acrosomal membrane, respectively the sperm cells motility. Statistical analyses (T-Test) were performed using GraphPad Prism version 5.00. Androhep Plus supplemented with 20% egg yolk (AhPlus+20%EY) indicated a higher cold shock protection in progressive motility (93.9±2.64%) and membrane integrity (79.78±4.14%), rather than the extender without egg yolk (p0.05). The combination egg yolk-AhPlus seems to be an alternative to standard extenders, conferring stability in boar sperm cells against cold shock.

Keywords

• androhep plus
• boar sperm
• casa
• cold shock
• egg yolk
• flow cytometry