Flow-cytometric method for rapid determination of sperm viability and acrosome integrity in Ostrich semen (Struthio camelus)

Pandian, C. and Selvan, S.T. 2020. Flow-cytometric method for rapid determination of sperm viability and acrosome integrity in Ostrich semen (Struthio camelus). Indian Journal of Poultry Science, 55(1): 47–49.

Commercial exploitation of ratite species such as ostrich, rhea and emu has prompted a renewed interest in the structure of ratite spermatozoa. Flow cytometry provides the possibility of analyzing a high number of spermatozoa in less than 1 minute. The per cent livability and acrosome integrity of ostrich spermatozoa were analysed using flow-cytometry technique. A total of nine individual male birds was evaluated for sperm viability and acrosomal integrity using flow-cytometry technique. In flow-cytometry, the live spermatozoa have been depicted in green and dead spermatozoa in red colour. Likewise, in acrosome integrity, the intact acrosome is depicted in green and lost or damaged acrosome is depicted in red colour. Per cent live spermatozoa had no significant difference among males, however, numerical difference was observed and the value ranged from 70.85 to 85.09 with the mean value of 80.51 ± 0.98%. The per cent acrosome integrity had significant (P°0.01) difference among ostrich birds studied, and the values ranged from 71.94 to 94.5 9% with the mean value of 83.22 ± 0.73%. This is a pilot study in analyzing the live spermatozoa and acrosome integrity in ratites and this result was expressed after counting more than 10,000 spermatozoa, which indicates that this method is a very accurate and rapid method for analysing multiple parameters and alternative to conventional methods of semen evaluation.