Aspectos econômicos e avaliação do período de viabilidade  de espermatozoides ovino imunossexados e diluídos em meio  de conservação à base de água de coco em pó (ACP-102c)

Maia, Luiz Carlos Pinheiro; Brito, Bruna Farias; Santos, Bárbara Mara Bandeira; Cabral, Leonardo Alves Rodrigues; Salgueiro, Cristiane Clemente de Mello; Matta, Marcos Fernando de Resende; Nunes, José Ferreira

Aspectos econômicos e avaliação do período de viabilidade de espermatozoides ovino imunossexados e diluídos em meio de conservação à base de água de coco em pó (ACP-102c)

Maia, Luiz Carlos PinheiroBrito, Bruna FariasSantos, Bárbara Mara BandeiraCabral, Leonardo Alves RodriguesSalgueiro, Cristiane Clemente de MelloMatta, Marcos Fernando de ResendeNunes, José Ferreira

Background: Sperm sexing is increasing in use because pre-determining the sex of the calf allows greater profitability and promotes significant gains in the productive systems that utilize the technique. Deployment of a low-cost and practical preservation methodol-ogy may further favor the cost-benefit ratio. Flow cytometry, the most commonly used sexing technique, has high costs and is very restricted. As an alternative, immunosexing has been studied, which uses sex-specific monoclonal antibodies. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the immunosexing technique in conjunction with cryopreservation in ACP-102c and examine its economic aspects with regard to ram semen.Materials, Methods & Results: Ejaculates from two ram individuals were collected with the aid of an artificial vagina, evaluated, and submitted to the immunosexing protocol, according to the manufacturers recommendations, using the Monoclonal Antibody Kit specific for mammalian sperm with Y chromosomes (HY; HY Biotechnology, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil). After sexing, the supernatant was resuspended in the cryopreservation diluent: ACP (ACP-102c + 20% egg yolk + 7% glycerol), packaged in 0.25 mL straws, refrigerated to 4°C, stabilized for 30 min, frozen in liquid nitrogen vapors (-60°C) for 15 min, immersed in liquid nitrogen, and stored in cryogenic cylinders. The samples were thawed and evaluated for sperm kinetics both by using computerized semen analysis with SCA® software (Sperm Class Analyzer version 5.0) and subjectively comparing specimens from the two animals using conventional microscopy (40x). Plasma membrane integrity (IMP) and sperm cell morphology were evaluated by the smear staining technique...(AU)