EFFECT OF SMM SEMEN EXTENDERS ON RABBIT SPERMATOZOA MOTILITY AND VIABILITY

SMM mediums were invented to increase turkey spermatozoa motility. Effect of SMM extenders were previously tested on turkey spermatozoa with outstanding results in in vitro conditions what lead testing these mediums on rabbit spermatozoa with emphasis on motility and viability parameters. Semen samples of New Zealand White rabbits were assessed in this study. The aim of this study was to evaluate selected parameters of rabbit spermatozoa motility in in vitro conditions using different semen extenders (SMM1, SMM2, SMM3) at different times, cultured at temperature of 5 degrees C. Using CASA analysis, the effect of selected extender (SMM1, SMM2, SMM3) on rabbit spermatozoa motility parameters in vitro during the incubation period and at 5 degrees C was determined. The total spermatozoa motility was in experimental samples in the range of 90.59-31.28% (SMM1), 85.94-28.15% (SMM2) and 89.48-24.66% (SMM3) compared to control sample - 87.82-20.51%. Even though motility decreased along with rising time, some significant differences between control sample and samples enriched with tested SMM extenders were found. Significant stimulation effect of SMM extenders was preferably manifested in samples which contained medium SMM1. The percentage of progressive motile spermatozoa showed significantly positive effect of added extender, furthermore after one hour of incubation all experimental samples reached the level of significance (P < 0.001). No significant difference in velocity parameter VCL was detected between control and experimental samples, except for the one hour interval where positive effect of semen extender was monitored (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01). Long term semen storage (24 hours) resulted in significantly (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001) decrease of path in samples with mediums SMM2 and SMM3. The spermatozoa viability was tested using MTT assay at intervals of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and no significant difference compared with control was detected. Results of this study confirm that the newly developed extenders for turkey semen have also positive effect on rabbit spermatozoa in vitro.