Comparison of CapriPure® and Percoll® density gradients for sperm separation of frozen-thawed goat spermatozoa

ABSTRACT

Frozen - thawed semen from six Boer bucks was pooled and used to compare the recently available commercial product CapriPure ® with Percoll ® for sperm quality . Sperm quality parameters such as sperm motility, concentration, membrane integrity (PI/CFDA), acrosome integrity (FITC - PNA) and mitochondrial activity (JC - 1) were evaluated before and after sperm processing using CapriPure ® and Percoll ® density gradient s . There was a significant r eduction (P < 0.05) in the percentage of spermatozoa with intact acrosomes following Percoll ® gradient centrifugation. However , t here was a significant increase in the percentage of spermatozoa with high mitochondrial membrane potential in both CapriPure ® (P < 0.01) and Percoll ® (P < 0.05) density gradient centrifugation methods . The samples selected using the CapriPure ® gradient achieved higher numerical values of membrane integrity, acrosome integrity as well as high mitochondrial membrane potential and s howed a tendency for improvement of sperm parameters compared with the Percoll ® gradient, suggesting that CapriPure ® is a good alternative to Percoll ® for goat sperm separation . However, further studies are needed to assess the fertilizing capacity of sper matozoa following the use of the CapriPure ® gradient.