Some physical characteristics and response to hypo-osmolaity levels of epididymal camel spermatozoa stored at 25 or 5 degree C.

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of different storage periods at 25 or 5¡ãC of camel testes (camelus dromedais) after slaughter on motility, livability, abnormality and the response to hypo-osmotic swollen test (HOS-test) of epididymal spermatozoa. Twelve testes of camel bulls (6-10 years) were collected from the abattoir after slaughtering and placed immediately into plastic bag in thermos at 25¡ãC or into icebox at 5¡ãC, then transported to the laboratory. The time between the removal of the testes and arrival at laboratory was approximately 6 h. Camel spermatozoa were recovered from the tail of epididymis by aspiration of the testes stored at 25 for or 5¡ãC for 6, 12 or 24 h after slaughtering. Results show that the percent of motility (61.6 vs. 43.3 %) and livability (54.3 vs. 51.6%) were higher, while the percent of sperm abnormality (19.0 vs. 20.0%) was lower for spermatozoa recovered from testes stored at 25¡ãC for 6 than 12 hours. The differences were significant (P¡Ü0.05) only for sperm motility. In testes stored at 5¡ãC, percents of motility and livability were decreased by increasing storage period from 6 up to 24 hours, while sperm abnormality increased from 14.0% after 6 h. The differences were not significant to 25% after 24 h. Spermatozoa recovered from testes stored at 25¡ãC for 6 or 12 hours showed similar response to HOS-test, being 46.3 and 46.9%, respectively. Whoever, testes stored at 5¡ãC, percent of curled spermatozoa gradually decreased (P0.05) from 51.9 up to 49.9% by increasing storage period from 6 up to 24 h. Percent of curled spermatozoa recovered from testes stored at 25¡ãC increased (P0.05) from 20.1% at 300 mOsmol/l to 69.78% at 50 mOsmol/l. The highest response was observed by decreasing osmolarity level from 200 to 150 mOsmol/l, while the lowest response was found between 100 and 50 mOsmol/l. At 5¡ãC, percents of curling were 19.2% at 300 mOsmol and 76.9% at 50 mOsmol. Percent of curling increased (P0.05) by increasing testing time from 10 up to 30 min for both epididymal spermatozoa recovered from testes stored at 25 or 5¡ãC. All interactions on percentage of curled spermatozoa were not significant at 25 or 5¡ãC. The current study indicated the possibility of recovering epididymal spermatozoa with acceptaple percentages of motility, livability and membrane integrity from testes stored at 5¡ãC for 24 hours collected from slaughtered camels