Correlation among methods to evaluate sperm membrane integrity of bovine cryopreserved sperm

Abstract

It were established correlations among methods of sperm plasmatic membrane evaluation, by analyzing cryopreserved semen of five Nelore bulls, within three replicates / bull. After thawing at 37°C/30 seconds, there were assessed motility (%), concentration (x106), morphology (%) and membrane integrity. To evaluate membrane integrity, hypoosmotic test (HOS), fluorescence (FLU) and eosin/nigrosin (EN) were used. Data were submitted to Pearson´s correlation analysis. According to the results, there was correlation between fluorescence vs eosin/nigrosin (r = 0.74; p<0.0013), fluorescence vs hypoosmotic test (r = 0.71; p<0.0029) and eosin/nigrosin vs hypoosmotic test (r = 0.59; p<0.0202). There was also correlation among motility and fluorescence (r = 0.70; p<0.0036), hypoosmotic test (r = 0.78; p<0.0006) and eosin/nigrosin (r = 0.52; p<0.0436). We conclude that the three methods were efficacious in evaluating plasmatic membrane integrity of bovine frozen-thawed spermatozoa, and each laboratory could make its choice according to disposable equipments.