Submission Number: GER-4-5-4

Abstract Number: 101

COMPARISONS OF THE MOTILITY AND KINEMATIC PARAMETERS OF FRESH AND FROZEN-THAWED CAUDA EPIDIDYMAL AND EJACULATE SPERM IN THE VERVET MONKEY, CERCOPITHECUS AETHIOPS.

Gerhard van der Horst ¹ and Juergen Seier ²

Department of Physiology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa ¹
Medical Research Council of SA, Parow Valley, South Africa ²

Abstract:
Recent research have shown that the vervet monkey is a good model for human reproduction. It is important to obtain a high level of freezing success of human sperm particularly in subfertile males or before a vasectomy or in males who require drug treatment that may render them infertile. Is it better to cryopreserve ejaculate or cauda epididymal sperm in such cases? This investigation compares the freezing success of cauda epididymal and ejaculate sperm in the vervet monkey. Vervet monkey ejaculate (E) and cauda epididymal (C) sperm were obtained by electro ejaculation and micro-aspiration from the epididymis respectively under Ketamine (10mg/kg) anaesthesia. Both E and C sperm were cryopreserved in micro straws in a Tes-Tris-Egg yolk medium using routine protocols, and stored in liquid nitrogen. The percentage motile sperm and sperm kinematic parameters of fresh and frozen-thawed C and E sperm were compared. Statistically significant differences below represent p<0.05. The percentage motile fresh C sperm (90%) was significantly higher than for fresh E (65%) and frozen-thawed C (78%) and E (38%) sperm. The percentage motility of frozen-thawed C sperm (78%) was significantly higher than for frozen-thawed E sperm (38%) but not significantly different from fresh E sperm (65%). Similarly the curvilinear velocity (VCL) of fresh C sperm differed significantly from fresh E sperm and frozen-thawed E and C sperm but fresh E sperm did not differ significantly from frozen-thawed C sperm. This tendency was also observed for other kinematic parameters such as linearity (LIN) and amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH). The results indicate that the quantitative sperm motility of frozen-thawed cauda epididymal sperm is almost similar to fresh ejaculate sperm and apparently of higher quality than cryopreserved ejaculate sperm. It would be advisable to freeze both ejaculate and cauda epididymal sperm for future use in IVF related procedures.

Keywords: cryopreservation, sperm, epididymis, ejaculate, primate, vervet monkey

This abstract is being presented at: 8:00 AM in session:
Cryopreservation