EFFECT OF SPERM SELECTION BY HYDROGELS ON BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF PIG SPERMATOZOA

MORILLA G; A C. LIAUDAT; BLOIS D; CAPELLA V; RIVAROLA C; BARBERO C; BOSCH P; RODRIGUEZ N

Congreso; IV Reunión conjunta de sociedades de biología de la República Argentina; 2020

EFFECT OF SPERM SELECTION BY HYDROGELS ON BIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF PIG SPERMATOZOAMorilla G (1)*, Liaudat AC (1), Blois D (1), Capella V (1,2), Rivarola C (2), Barbero C (2), Bosch P (1) Rodríguez N (1). *gmorilla@ayv.unrc.edu.ar. Dpto de Biol Mol y (2) Dpto de Qca, Fac de Cs. Exactas Fco-Qcas y Naturales, UNRC. PNIPAM hydrogels copolymerized with APTA-15% (N-isopropylacrylamide co-3-(acrylamidopropyl) trimethyl ammonium chloride) are gaining great importance in the biomedical field due to their low cellular toxicity and versatility of application. The aim of this work was to evaluate the sperm quality throughout the selection process using PNIPAM co-APTA-15% surfaces. To accomplish this, the pig sperm were exposed to the surfaces of PNIPAM co-APTA-15% hydrogels, in TALP-Ca++ - Albumin medium for 30 minutes, and subsequently the medium was replaced by TALP- medium without Ca++ - Alb. TALP-Ca++ - Alb medium was used to stimulate sperm binding to the hydrogel and TALP- without Ca++ - Alb, to promote the release of spermatozoa from PNIPAM co-APTA-15% surfaces. The effect of sperm manipulation on motility, morphology, sperm membrane integrity, viability, acrosomal reaction and sperm cell death was evaluated throughout the selection process. The analysis of these parameters was included in the initial sample, postcentrifuge, sperm not adhered to the hydrogel and cells sperm released from the biomaterial. Results were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni as a post-hoc test (p≤0.05). These results suggested that the sperm quality is maintained with high quality to be used in assisted reproduction techniques. Furthermore, it was found that the hydrogel does not cause any alteration on viability, motility, acrosome reaction, sperm morphology and cell death. In conclusion, these results suggest that 15% APTA hydrogels are a biomaterial with the capacity to be used as a method of suine sperm selection for subsequent use in assisted reproduction techniques.