Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences 10 (21): 3936-3939, 2007 ISSN 1028-8880 © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information Corresponding Author: P. Tajik, Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, P.O. Box: 14155-6453, Tehran, Iran 3936 Bovine Epididymal Sperm Morphology Obtained from Caput, Corpus and Cauda Epididymides P. Tajik, A. Arman and T. Taktaz 1 1 2 Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 1 University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6453, Tehran, Iran Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 2 Islamic Azad University Shahrekord Branch, Shahrekord, Iran Abstract: To investigate the proportion of normal sperm cells in bovine epididymis, bovine testicles (n = 50), obtained from a local slaughterhouses, epididymides were incised and sperm cells were transferred into slide glasses where eosin nigrosin stain was applied either in the place or in laboratory. When sperm were stained in slaughterhouse, 88% of caput epididymal sperm were alive; 9% without protoplasmic droplet (NPD), 10.2 and 68.8% had distal (DD) and Proximal Droplets (PD), respectively. Of dead sperm, 10.4% were NPD and 0.33 and 1.27% had DD and PD, respectively. Of corpus epididymal sperm, 77.2% were alive of which 14.7% were NPD, 58.3 and 4.2% had DD and PD, respectively. Of dead sperm, 20.4% were NPD and 2.2 and 0.2% had DD and PD, respectively. When spermatozoa were stained in laboratory, 71.7% were alive of which 17.4% were NPD, 49.7 and 4.6% had DD and PD, respectively. Of dead sperm, 23.1% had no droplet and 4.21 and 0.99% were DD and PD, respectively. The proportion of live spermatozoa from caudal epididymis was 86.1%, of which 9.9% were NPD, 68.3 and 7.9% had DD and PD, respectively. Of dead spermatozoa, 10.1% had no droplet and 3.3 and 0.5% had DD and PD, respectively. No significant difference observed between different parts of epididymis and also between slaughter house staining and laboratory staining of sperm cells. Data showed that approximately all parts of epididymis contained similar status of live sperm cells and the sperm cells containing protoplasmic droplets. Key words: Bovine, epididymal sperm, morphology INTRODUCTION been done by Kabbi et al. (2003) on the quality of cauda Epididymal sperm has been used in many laboratories the other hands artificial Insemination and embryo because it is easier to get in some especial species. transfer as well as IVF has been used for camelids Cryopreserved epididymal sperm is now used for (Anouassi et al., 1992; Bravo et al., 2000; intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in human McKinnon et al., 1994; Musa et al., 1992 and Roberets, insemination (Jansen et al., 2000; Patrizio, 2000). 1991). Surprisingly some researchers have used Epididymal sperms have been obtained and individual epididymal sperm from South American camelids but no variations in cryoprotectant toxicities have been studied offspring was resulted from their works (Del Campo, 1994). for African antelope (Loskutoff et al., 1996). Epididymal There are few studies concerning morphological study of sperms have successfully been obtained at necropsy bovine epididymal sperm. The present study was carried from goats and used it for in vitro fertilization (IVF) to study the proportion of bovine sperm cells containing (Blash et al., 2000). One year later, goat epididymal sperm proximal or distal protoplasmic droplets in different parts was cryopreserved using a chemically defined model (caput, corpus and caudae) epididymides. system (Kundu et al., 2001). Yu and Leibo (2002) have successfully recovered motile and membrane-intact MATERIALS AND METHODS spermatozoa from canine epididymis stored for 8 days at 4°C (Yu and Leibo, 2002). James et al. (2002) have stored Sperm cells preparation: Testicles from 50 slaughtered equine sperm in the epididymis at 4 °C for 24, 48, 72 and 96 bulls (100 testicles) were isolated in a local hours (James et al., 2002). Some experiments have also slaughterhouse in Isfahan suburb. Selected animals were epididymal ram spermatozoa (Kaabi et al., 2003). On