Evaluation of Canine Sperm Morphology Using Two Techniques for Sperm Separation

Veterinarians often encounter subfertile male dogs whose poor quality semen is intended for artificial insemination. Several methods for the elimination of abnormal sperm are available. Density gradient centrifugation (DGCM) and the swim up method (SUM) have both been shown to be effective in separating sperm but their efficacy in recovery of morphologically normal canine sperm has not been compared. The objective of this study was to compare sperm morphology following these two methods of sperm separation. With the success and widespread use of commercially-available DGCM for horses, we hypothesized that this method would yield a higher percentage of morphologically normal sperm than the SUM. [...]