| Autor: |
Lago-Alvarez Y; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., Podico G; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., Segabinazzi LG; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., Cunha LL; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., Barbosa L; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., Arnold CE; Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA., Lima FS; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA., King LT; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, University of Arizona, Oro Valley, AZ 85704, USA., McLean AK; Department of Animal Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95161, USA., Canisso IF; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
The objectives of this study were to assess the cooling and freezing of donkey epididymal semen harvested immediately after castration (Experiment 1, n = 4) or after the shipment (24 or 48 h) of epididymides attached to testicles (Experiment 2, n = 14) or dissected apart (Experiment 3, n = 36). In each experiment, semen was frozen immediately (Non-Centrif) in an egg yolk-based semen extender (EY) or after processing through cushion-centrifugation (Centrif) while extended in a skim milk-based extender (SC). In all three experiments, cooled, pre-freeze, and post-thaw epididymal semen was assessed for total motility (TM), progressive motility (PM), plasma membrane integrity (PMI), and high mitochondrial membrane potential (HMMP). Data were analyzed with R using mixed models and Tukey's test as posthoc. Results showed that the cooling of epididymal semen up to 24 h after harvesting did not affect motility parameters or plasma membrane integrity; furthermore, in Experiment 3, the post-thaw evaluation of both Centrif and Non-Centrif achieved similar TM and PM. Collectively, the post-thaw results revealed low motility parameters across groups; while, the PMI and HMMP did not reflect this trend, and the values remained high, suggesting that there was a lack of epididymal sperm activation with either centrifugation or extenders. In summary, freshly harvested and cooled-shipped and cooled semen had satisfactory semen parameters. Future studies need to address donkey epididymal semen fertility in mares and jennies. |
