Comparison of different methods of goat sperm selection and capacitation for optimization of assisted reproductive technologies.

This study evaluated different methods of frozen-thawed sperm selection and capacita-tion in goats for further use in reproductive biotechnologies. In Experiment 1, semen wasprocessed by the following techniques: mini-Percoll, swim-up, or washing by centrifuga-tion. In Experiment 2, mini-Percoll selected-sperm was subjected to capacitation inductionby incubation with: 50 ug/mL heparin, 10 uM, 50 uM, or 100 uM of sodium nitroprusside(SNP). Motility, vigor, acrosome, and plasma membrane (PM) integrity were evaluated afterthawing and after each treatment of sperm selection or capacitation. In Experiment 1, wash-ing by centrifugation presented greater (43%; P < 0.05) spermatozoa recovery rate than theother treatments. The swim-up technique showed the lowest (P < 0.05) progressive motil-ity (41%). Spermatozoa presenting both intact PM (P = 0.0002) and acrosome (P = 0.0004)showed an interaction effect between the buck and swim-up technique. In Experiment2, the addition of 100 M SNP resulted in greater (P < 0.05) motility and vigor (38%; 4.7),respectively, than did heparin (28%; 4.3). An enhancement (P < 0.05) in vigor was obtainedafter all treatments in comparison with the evaluation after thawing (3.3). In conclusion,mini-Percoll was better than swim-up for preparing frozen?thawed goat sperm, whereaswashing by centrifugation technique presented similar rates to mini-Percoll and could alsobe used. The use of 100 M SNP resulted in better motility and vigor than heparin treatment