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COMPUTER-ASSISTED SPERM ANALYSIS OF RODENT EPIDIDYMAL SPERM MOTILITY USING THE HAMILTON-THORN MOTILITY ANALYZER
Citation:
Slott, V. COMPUTER-ASSISTED SPERM ANALYSIS OF RODENT EPIDIDYMAL SPERM MOTILITY USING THE HAMILTON-THORN MOTILITY ANALYZER. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-92/070.
Description:
Computer-assisted sperm motion analysis (CASA) can provide a comprehensive evaluation of sperm motility in an efficient and objective manner. he inclusion of CASA in reproductive toxicology studies on male rodents results in a more thorough characterization of adverse effects on spermatogenesis than the use of sperm counts or fertility data alone. ompared to human sperm, which CASA systems were developed for, rat sperm are considerably larger and the motion of the tracked images contains an added flagellar component due to the inclusion of the midpiece and tail in the digitized image. hese differences must be taken into account when adapting CASA technology to assess rat sperm. ncluded in this chapter are techniques and recommendations for obtaining and maintaining quality sperm samples from the rat cauda epididymis, as well as procedures for handling, videotaping and analyzing the motility of these samples using the HTM-2000 Motility Analyzer (Hamilton-Thorn Research, Beverly, MA). dditionally, causes and remedies of possible sperm tracking errors for this machine and the utility of CASA technology are discussed.