Effects of separation methods (swin-up, Percoll and Equipure) on sperm cat quality

• Grant number: 17/21895-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2018
• End date: December 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: Fabiana Ferreira de Souza
• Grantee: Débora de Fátima Ferreira Calman
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Currently, the interest in the application of reproduction biotechnologies in cats has increased, due to the great number of breeds and animals breed in Brazil. Despite the in vitro fertilization to be the most studied technique in this species, has scarce knowledge about techniques to improve the feline semen quality, since cats have many sperm defects, impairing the biotechnology application. Thus, this study will aim to evaluate 3 methods of sperm separation (swin-up and centrifugation in Percoll and Equipure) in order to increase sperm quality. Nine healthy adult cats will be used, from which 1 ejaculate will be collected, by electroejaculation. For the separation, a pool of 3 ejaculates will be used, which will be evaluated to sperm kinetics, concentration, morphology and by flow cytometry (mitochondrial potential, plasma membrane integrity and acrosome) and submitted to swin-up and centrifugation in Percoll and Equipure. After separation, the cells contained in the two separated phases will again be evaluated for the same characteristics. The results of the 3 methods will be compared in order to choose the one that obtains better performance as the improvement of the sperm characteristics and cellular integrity maintenance. (AU)