Evaluation of the effect of the amino acid methionine on goat epididymal sperm motility parameters during preservation at 5 degrees celsius using CASA (Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis)
Subject Areas : Veterinary Clinical Pathologymehran lotfi 1 , keivan abdy 2
1 - Graduate of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia Branch, Islamic Azad University, Urmia, Iran.
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia Branch, Islamic Azad Univercity, Urmia, Iran.
Keywords: CASA, Epididymis, Goat, Methionine, Sperm motility.,
Abstract :
Sperm storage in liquid form disrupts sperm motility by oxidation of membrane lipids and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The amino acid methionine as an anti-oxidant is effective in clearing ROS and improving sperm motility. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of four concentrations of methionine on the motility pattern of goat epididymal sperm during preservation at 5 °C. For this purpose, 30 pairs of testicles of adult male goats were collected from Urmia industrial slaughterhouse and transferred to the laboratory next to ice pack. In the laboratory, after incisions on the epididymal tail, sperm were transferred to micro-tubes containing HTF (Human Tubal Fluid) medium with 10% bovine serum albumin. After preparing a dilution between 30 and 40 million sperm per ml of HTF medium, 4 levels of methionine (1, 2, 4 and 6 mmol) were added to the micro-tubes containing culture medium and sperms. After 5 minutes of incubation at 37 °C, the samples were evaluated in terms of motility pattern with computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA). Data were analyzed using SPSS software and the Tukey test. The results showed that CASA parameters including progressive motility (class A+B, %), straight line velocity (VSL, µm/s), average path velocity (VAP, µm/s), curvilinear velocity (VCL, µm/s), straightness (STR, %) and wobble (WOB, %) were significantly higher in methionine treatment at 60 hours than in the control (p<0.05). Therefore, methionine amino acid can be used to improve the quality of goat epididymis sperm.
