Use of Androcoll-S after thawing improves the quality of electroejaculated and epididymal sperm samples from red deer

• Electroejaculated and epididymal red deer sperm were cryopreserved.
• On thawing they were prepared by Single Layer Centrifugation (SLC) with Androcoll-S.
• Sperm motility was improved in the SLC samples compared to controls.
• Viability, mitochondrial activity and acrosomal status were improved in SLC samples.
• These improvements were maintained for an incubation period of 2 h.

Single Layer Centrifugation is a useful technique to select sperm with good quality. The use of selection methods such as Androcoll could become an important tool to improve the quality of sperm samples and therefore to improve other artificial reproductive techniques such as sperm sex sorting, in vitro fertilization or AI. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a Single Layer Centrifugation with Androcoll-S on the sperm quality of red deer sperm samples of two different origins, electroejaculated samples and epididymal samples obtained post-mortem, after thawing and after an incubation for 2 h at 37 °C. Sperm motility, viability, membrane permeability, mitochondrial activity, acrosomal status and DNA fragmentation were determined for all samples. The samples selected by Androcoll-S showed an improvement in sperm kinematics compared to unselected samples after thawing and after incubation. The same effect was observed in parameters such as viability, mitochondrial activity or acrosomal status which were improved after the selection. In contrast, no difference was found in DNA fragmentation between selected and unselected samples within the same sperm type. We conclude that sperm selection by SLC with Androcoll-S after thawing for red deer sperm of both types is a suitable technique that allows sperm quality in both types of sperm samples to be improved, thereby improving other assisted reproductive techniques. Further studies (IVF and in vivo fertilization) are required to determine whether this improvement can increase fertility, as has been shown for other species.