ROLE OF SPERM MOTILITY AND ACROSOME INTEGRITY IN THE FILTRATION OF BOVINE SEMEN

In this study, the role of sperm motility and acrosome integrity in fi ltration of bovine semen was investigated. In Experiment 1, the treatm ent of semen with formaldehyde, hyperosmotic buffer, heating and direc t freezing immunobilized the spermatozoa completely but their acrosoma l status varied significantly (P<0.01). The immotile spermatozoa, of a ny kind, did not pass through the Sephadex ion-exchange column at room temperature. In Experiment 2, semen samples possessing different perc entages of immobilized spermatozoa (0, 50, 75 and 100%) were filtered through the Sephadex ion-exchange column. The immotile/dead spermatozo a were removed proportionately to their number in the semen by Sephade x ion-exchange column. The type and number of immotile spermatozoa in semen had no effect (P>0.05) on the postfiltration recovery rate of mo tile spermatozoa. Filtered spermatozoa exhibited higher (P<0.01) motil ity (>90%), progressive motility (>70%) and normal acrosomes (>95%) th an nonfiltered spermatozoa. In conclusion, sperm motility seems to be more important than acrosome integrity for semen filtration, and the S ephadex ion-exchange column can remove the known quantities of differe nt kinds dead/immotile spermatozoa.