Dataset Information

High-throughput characterisation of bull semen motility using differential dynamic microscopy.

ABSTRACT: We report a high-throughput technique for characterising the motility of spermatozoa using differential dynamic microscopy. A movie with large field of view (?10mm2) records thousands of cells (e.g. ? 5000 cells even at a low cell density of 20 × 106 cells/ml) at once and yields averaged measurements of the mean ([Formula: see text]) and standard deviation (?) of the swimming speed, head oscillation amplitude (A0) and frequency (f0), and the fraction of motile spermatozoa (?). Interestingly, we found that the measurement of ? is facilitated because the swimming spermatozoa enhance the motion of the non-swimming population. We demonstrate the ease and rapidity of our method by performing on-farm characterisation of bull spermatozoa motility, and validate the technique by comparing laboratory measurements with tracking. Our results confirm the long-standing theoretical prediction that [Formula: see text] for swimming spermatozoa.

SUBMITTER: Jepson A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6457493 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

High-throughput characterisation of bull semen motility using differential dynamic microscopy.

Jepson Alys A Arlt Jochen J Statham Jonathan J Spilman Mark M Burton Katie K Wood Tiffany T Poon Wilson C K WCK Martinez Vincent A VA

PloS one 20190410 4

We report a high-throughput technique for characterising the motility of spermatozoa using differential dynamic microscopy. A movie with large field of view (∼10mm2) records thousands of cells (e.g. ≈ 5000 cells even at a low cell density of 20 × 106 cells/ml) at once and yields averaged measurements of the mean ([Formula: see text]) and standard deviation (σ) of the swimming speed, head oscillation amplitude (A0) and frequency (f0), and the fraction of motile spermatozoa (α). Interestingly, we ...[more]

PMID: 30969959

Similar Datasets

Project description:Improvements in bull reproductive performance are necessary to optimize the efficiency of cattle production. Female fertility has been enhanced through assisted reproductive technologies as well as genetic selection; however, improving beef bull fertility has been largely ignored. Phenotypes routinely collected at bull semen collection facilities are believed to affect fertility and provide the phenotypes necessary for a genetic evaluation. The first objective of this study was to determine the significant fixed effects for modeling beef bull fertility using data from bull semen collection facilities. The second objective was to estimate variance components, heritabilities, repeatabilities, and correlations between beef bull semen attributes. Beef bull fertility phenotypes including volume (VOL), concentration (CONC), number of spermatozoa (NSP), initial motility (IMot), post-thaw motility (PTMot), 3-h post-thaw motility (3HRPTMot), percentage of normal spermatozoa (%NORM), primary abnormalities (PRIM), and secondary abnormalities (SEC) were obtained from two bull semen collection facilities. A total of 1,819 Angus bulls with 50,624 collection records were analyzed. Of the fixed class and covariate effects tested, the significant class effects were collection location and collection day within year and the significant covariate effects included age at collection, days since previous collection, and cumulative comprehensive climate index (CCI). For this study, the CCI was calculated for a 75-d period including the 61-d spermatogenesis cycle and 14-d epididymal transit time. The 75 d prior to collection accounted for the environmental stress a bull may have experienced over the course of development of the spermatozoa, which was more significant than the CCI calculated for collection day or spermatogenesis start date. Pre-thaw beef bull semen traits had low heritability estimates of 0.11 ± 0.02 (VOL), 0.09 ± 0.02 (CONC), 0.08 ± 0.02 (NSP), and 0.12 ± 0.03 (IMot). Heritabilities of post-thaw beef bull semen attributes were more variable at 0.10 ± 0.02 (PTMot), 0.05 ± 0.04 (3HRPTMot), 0.10 ± 0.04 (%NORM), 0.03 ± 0.03 (PRIM), and 0.18 ± 0.04 (SEC). Correlations of breeding values for these traits with scrotal circumference (SC) expected progeny difference (EPD) are low. The low to moderate heritability estimates indicate that genetic improvement can be made in beef bull semen quality traits if new tools are developed to augment the scrotal circumference EPD that are currently available within the industry.

Dataset Information

High-throughput characterisation of bull semen motility using differential dynamic microscopy.

Publications

High-throughput characterisation of bull semen motility using differential dynamic microscopy.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure