Effect of heterologue seminal plasma over cryopreserved ram sperm.

BERNARDINI, AL; CESARI, A

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XLIII Reunión Anual SAIB.; 2007

SAIB

Effect of heterologue seminal plasma over cryopreserved ram sperm Bernardini, Alejandra and Cesari Andreina. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas, UNMdP, Mar del Plata, Argentina. Sperm cryopreservation produces membrane alterations resembling physiological capacitation. Ram sperm are vulnerable to freezing, producing low fertility rates and the addition of seminal plasma (SP) to frozen/thawed semen reverts this effect. When sperm are incubated with homologue SP, some proteins are attached to the sperm surface  and sperm motility is improved. SP from different breeds have similar protein concentration but differ in their electrophoretic pattern. The aim of this work was to evaluate if heterologue SP can improve cryopreserved semen from a particular breed. In order to investigate the effect of SP from other breeds over Frison sperm, a cell suspension was incubated ± SP from Corriedale or Texel and motility was assayed. No differences in total motility but an improvement in progressive motility was observed. To detect proteins that interact with the sperm surface, sperm membrane proteins from Frison were immobilized and incubated with heterologue SP. The retained proteins were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. Four proteins from Corriedale?s SP and five from Texel?s SP interacted with Frison sperm surface proteins. We concluded that heterologue SP improve frozen/thawed sperm motility and that SP proteins of other breeds interact with heterologue sperm. Whether these proteins are responsible of the improvement in motility requires further research. ANPCyT PICTO-UNMdP