Practical techniques for bovine sperm simultaneous fluorimetric assessment of plasma, acrosomal and mitochondrial membranes.

This experiment was performed to develop and validate practical techniques for simultaneous evaluation of the integrity of plasma and acrosomal membranes, as well as mitochondrial function in bovine spermatozoa using associations of fluorescent probes. Four protocols of fluorescent probes association were defined: protocol 1: propidium iodide (PI), fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated Pisum sativum agglutinin (FITC-PSA) and rhodamine 123; protocol 2: PI, FITC-PSA and MitoTracker Green FM (MITO); protocol 3: PI, Hoechst 33342 (H342), FITC-PSA and CMXRos; and protocol 4: PI, H342, FITC-PSA and JC-1. Three ejaculates from each of the four bulls (n = 12) were utilized, showing sperm motility >/=80% and abnormal morphology