The nuclear DNA longevity in cryopreserved boar spermatozoa assessed using the Sperm-Sus-Halomax

The aim of this experimental study was to evaluate the dynamics of nuclear DNA fragmentation in frozen-thawed (FT) boar spermatozoa incubated over time. Using the Sperm Chromatin Dispersion test (Sperm-Sus-Halomax), this study focused special attention on resolving the hypothesis that the original halo shapes around the sperm head could show dynamic changes over the postthawing incubation time. Twenty FT sperm samples from five boars (four per boar) were incubated at 37 °C during 168 hours and sperm motility (assessed using computer-assisted sperm analysis), viability (evaluated using the LIVE/DEAD Sperm Viability Kit), and nuclear DNA fragmentation were analyzed at 0, 0.5, 2, 4, 6, 24, 48, 72, and 168 hours. The percentages of motile and viable spermatozoa progressively decreased during incubation, with no motile and viable spermatozoa less than 10% in all boars at 24 hours of incubation. Four different halo shapes around the sperm head were considered in the Sperm Chromatin Dispersion test: normal, small, large scattered (typical fragmented nuclear DNA), and absent halo, all of them coexisting at the same time in the boar FT semen samples. Sperm with a large scattered halo did not change during postthaw, consistently showing percentages less than 5% over time in all boars. In contrast, the other three sperm populations showed a dynamic evolution over incubation time, characterized by a gradual reduction of sperm with normal halo, proportional to the increment in the sperm showing a small halo, followed by a switch between the sperm with a small halo and sperm with no halo. These results suggest that three of these four sperm populations, those showing small, large scattered, and absent halo, represent spermatozoa with different degrees of nuclear DNA damage, which should be taken into consideration to indicate the percentage of sperm with fragmented nuclear DNA in boar FT semen samples.