SPERM CONCENTRATION ASSESSMENT

The number of spermatozoa within a frozen straw or pellet of semen is critical for the success of AI.  Minimum standards exist for both bull and ram semen and so sperm concentration is a key part of appropriate quality control of frozen-thawed semen production.

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Various laboratory techniques exist to determine the concentration of spermatozoa in a given sample. The Reproduction Company utilises the two techniques deemed the most accurate and precise for measurement of sperm concentration:

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• The NucleoCounter® SP-100™ automated cell counter is a high-precision instrument utilizing state-of-the-art image cytometry to effectively determine total sperm concentration and sperm viability from both frozen-thawed and fresh ejaculates.

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• The Haemocytometer is a counting chamber device which is manually analysed under a phase contrast microscope with a built in measurement system and dual counting chambers to determine total sperm concentration of the ejaculate sample.

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Note: Spectrophotometry is not used to assess the concentration of processed semen as media compoenents interfere with the accuracy of measurement. 

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