The Use of Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis for Discriminating Series of Motility Pattern of Frozen-thawed Boar Semen

Abstract

Computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) was initiated to reduce subjective bias on the motility assessment and to discriminate a series of motility patterns of boar semen. The objectives of this present study were to evaluate the motility pattern of frozen-thawed boar semen at 0 and 60 min after thawing using CASA. Forty one ejaculates from Landrace (n=14), Yorkshire (n=12) and Duroc (n=15) boars were cryopreserved and included in the experiment. The semen was thawed at 37°C for 30 sec. The post-thawed sperm qualities including subjective motility, plasma
membrane integrity and motility pattern were determined immediately after thawing (T0) and at 60 min (T60) after incubation at 38°C. All motility parameters were recorded. Motion parameters including curvilinear velocity (VCL, 6m/s), linear velocity (VSL, 6m/s), mean velocity (VAP, 6m/s), linear coefficient (LIN, %), amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH, 6m) and total motility (MS-CASA, %) were measured. The results revealed that total motility and VSL assessed by CASA after thawing (T0) differed (p<0.05) among breeds. Some motion characteristics of FT boar
semen i.e., VSL, VAP, VCL and ALH significantly decreased an hour after post-thawing (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in MS-CASA, and LIN between T0 and T60 groups.