Centrifugal force assessment in ram sperm: identifying species-specific impact

Marta Neila-Montero; Marta F Riesco; Mercedes Alvarez; Rafael Montes-Garrido; Juan Carlos Boixo; Paulino de Paz; Luis Anel-Lopez; Luis Anel

doi:10.1186/s13028-021-00609-8

Centrifugal force assessment in ram sperm: identifying species-specific impact

Acta Vet Scand. 2021 Nov 4;63(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s13028-021-00609-8.

Authors

Marta Neila-Montero^{1

2}, Marta F Riesco^{1

3}, Mercedes Alvarez^{4

5}, Rafael Montes-Garrido^{1

2}, Juan Carlos Boixo^{1

2}, Paulino de Paz^{1

3}, Luis Anel-Lopez^{1

6}, Luis Anel^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Itra-ULE, INDEGSAL, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain.
² Animal Reproduction and Obstetrics, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain.
³ Cellular Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain.
⁴ Itra-ULE, INDEGSAL, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain. mmalvg@unileon.es.
⁵ Animal Reproduction and Obstetrics, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain. mmalvg@unileon.es.
⁶ Anatomy, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Surgery and Anatomy, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain.

Abstract

Background: Centrifugation is routinely employed in handling the ejaculates of some species, but it is not part of the commonly used protocols in ram. However, the development and implementation of new assisted reproductive technologies, alternative preservation models based on washing sperm from a cellular ageing-accelerating substance such as the seminal plasma, and basic studies in spermatology is associated with the use of centrifugation. This requires a specific evaluation of the centrifugation protocols considering the species-specific relationship with the potential damage produced by this procedure. No previous studies have determined the effect of different centrifugation forces on ram sperm. Therefore, we aimed to assess the performance of three centrifugal forces (600×g, 3000×g, and 6000×g for 10 min at room temperature) and their effects on ram sperm motility and functionality.

Results: Sperm motility and functionality parameters were assessed at 0 h and after 2 h of incubation at 37 °C. As expected, a higher cell packaging degree was obtained at high centrifugation forces (P ≤ 0.0001). Cell packaging was unstable at all centrifugal forces. Thus, there was a high cell resuspension rate after less than 2 min. Regarding sperm quality, there was a change in movement pattern of 3000×g and 6000×g centrifuged sperm after 2 h of incubation at 37 °C, characterized by an increase in rapid progressive motility, linearity, straightness, and beat frequency, and a decrease in medium progressive motility, curvilinear velocity, path velocity, and head lateral amplitude. Non-significant differences were obtained among the different treatments concerning the total viability. However, we observed a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in the percentage of viable apoptotic sperm in the samples centrifuged at 6000×g at 0 h.

Conclusions: Centrifugal forces equal to or greater than 3000×g induced some deleterious effects in ram sperm quality, and lower forces did not provide a successful cell packaging degree.

Keywords: Centrifugation; Ejaculate handling; Ovine; Semen.

MeSH terms

Animals
Centrifugation / veterinary
Cryopreservation / veterinary
Male
Semen
Semen Preservation* / veterinary
Sheep
Sperm Motility*
Spermatozoa

Abstract

MeSH terms

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