Use of sperm binding to homologous hemizona pellucida to predict stallion fertility

Summary Equine oocytes were obtained post mortem from slaughterhouse ovaries and by transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration. The oocytes were denuded and stored in salt solution at 4°C. On the day of the experiment the oocytes were bisected by micromanipulation surgery, thus providing two equal matching hemizonae from each oocyte. Three pairs of stallions were formed, each consisting of a fertile and subfertile Dutch Warmblood stallion. Matching hemizonae from 5 oocytes were used for each pair of fertile and subfertile stallions and the number of spermatozoa bound to the outer-side of each hemizona during incubation in vitro was assessed. The numbers of bound spermatozoa from fertile stallions were significantly higher than those from subfertile stallions (P<0.05). The results of this investigation encourage further use of the hemizona assay for evaluation of stallion fertility.

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