Evaluation of a panel of spermatological methods for assessing reprotoxic compounds in multilayer semen plastic bags

Abstract

The increase of fertility performance in sows is one of the biggest achievements in pig production over the last 30 years. Nevertheless, pig farms using artificial insemination (AI) repeatedly experienced in recent year’s fertility problems with dramatic consequences due to toxic compounds from plastic semen bags. In particular, bisphenol A diglycidyl-ether (BADGE) present in multilayer plastic bags can leach into the semen and could affect the functionality of the spermatozoa. Former studies could not find any alterations in spermatozoa based on the exposure to BADGE. The aim of the study was to evaluate effects of BADGE on boar spermatozoa using an extended panel of spermatological methods. In spring 2019, a large drop in farrowing rates from 92.6 ± 2.3% to 63.7 ± 11.1% in four sow farms in Croatia was detected. In migration studies, BADGE could be identified as a causal toxic compound and leached into the extended semen in concentration of 0.37 ± 0.05 mg/L. Detailed spermatological studies showed that significant predictors for effects on spermatozoa were different levels of motility and kinematic data after a prolonged storage time, thermo-resistance test (prolonged incubation time), mitochondrial activity, membrane integrity and fluidity. No serious effects were observed for sperm morphology and DNA fragmentation. These results provide new insights into the development of a new quality assurance concept for a detailed spermatological examination during testing of plastic materials for boar semen preservation. It could be shown that boar spermatozoa are an excellent biosensor to detect potential toxicity and fertility-relevant compounds.

Effect of pasteurized egg yolk on the quality of cryopreserved boar semen

“…To assess sperm quality, we chose sensitive methods, which are well correlated with actual boar fertility (Schulze et al, 2020).…”

“…Assessment of plasma membrane and acrosome intact sperm was done by triple staining with fluorescein isothiocyanateconjugated peanut agglutinin (FITC-PNA), pisum sativum agglutinin (FITC-PSA) and PI (Schäfer et al, 2017). Sperm plasma membrane lipid organization and viability were simultaneously assessed by double staining with Merocyanine 540 (M540) and YoPro-1 as described previously (Schulze et al, 2020).…”

Nonlinear continuum mechanics of thick hyperelastic sandwich beams using various shear deformable beam theories

“…Accordingly, by using Eqs. (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32), the potential energy of a three-layered hyperelastic beam can be rewritten, which is not presented here for the sake of brevity. It should be mentioned that for having more layers in the laminated hyperelastic beam model, Eqs.…”

“…It should be mentioned that for having more layers in the laminated hyperelastic beam model, Eqs. (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32) should be rewritten on the right side, based on the number of layers. The kinetic energy of the structure is written as…”

“…Multilayered hyperelastic structures have been used widely in many products. For instance, multilayer plastic packaging is used for packaging different products, such as food packaging which has been a trending topic over the last few years in waste management, recycling and optimised packaging [28][29][30][31]. Furthermore, human body organs act as hyperelastic components and many parts are made of different layers, such as the artery, which is made of three hyperelastic layers (intima, media and adventitia) [32].…”