Theriogenology

File with CASA data of stingray sperm motility

Genital organs from 33 Aotus namcymaae, 29 Poeppig’s woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poepigii), 21 red uakaris (Cacajao calvus) and 11 large-headed capuchins (Sapajus macrocephalus) were histologically analyzed in order to describe the endometrial changes related to the ovarian cycle. Recorded ovarian parameter included number and diameter of the largest antral follicle and CL. Recorded uterine variables include the density of endometrial glands, hemosiderin and fibrin measured and ranked from 0 to 5, according to the average number of target structures counted in random 1-mm2 fields at 100X.

VetCountTM Harvester (MotilityCount ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark) is a novel sperm purification device. It consists of two chambers separated by a 10 μM microporous membrane. Untreated semen is applied in one chamber, sperm collection medium in the other. Motile sperm cells are selected by actively swimming through the membrane pores into the medium containing chamber. After 30 min incubation, the sperm collection medium can be aspirated and the purified sperm is ready for further use. In a first experiment we assessed sperm quality and recovery of frozen-thawed semen from six different bulls (n = 6) prior to and after purification with the VetCountTM Harvester or BoviPureTM gradient centrifugation, a commercial available standard technique. In a second approach, a competitive fertilization assay was performed. Ten straws per bull were pooled, split in two subsamples, and simultaneously purified either with the VetCountTM Harvester or BoviPureTM gradient centrifugation. Following purification, sperm cells from each treatment group were fluorescently labeled with either MitoTrackerTM Red FM or MitoTrackerTM Green FM. In vitro matured oocytes were inseminated with equal numbers of red and green labeled sperm. Eighteen hours after fertilization, fluorescence microscopy was used to determine the origin of the fertilizing spermatozoon.

This study aimed to evaluate animal and ovarian parameters that affected fertilization and embryo development up to the morula stage. This dataset contains the combined date from 4 studies conducted in 2002-2007, and the R code used to analyze the data.