Comparison of CapriPure and Percoll density gradients for sperm separation of frozen- thawed goat spermatozoa

Frozen-thawed semen from six Boer bucks was pooled and used to compare the recently available commercial product CapriPure with Percoll for sperm quality. Sperm quality parameters such as sperm motility, concentration, membrane integrity (PI/CFDA), acrosome integrity (FITC-PNA) and mitochondrial activity (JC-1) were evaluated before and after sperm processing using CapriPure and Percoll density gradients. There was a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the percentage of spermatozoa with intact acrosomes following Percoll gradient centrifugation. However, there was a significant increase in the percentage of spermatozoa with high mitochondrial membrane potential in both CapriPure (P < 0.01) and Percoll (P < 0.05) density gradient centrifugation methods. The samples selected using the CapriPure gradient achieved higher numerical values of membrane integrity, acrosome integrity as well as high mitochondrial membrane potential and showed a tendency for improvement of sperm parameters compared with the Percoll gradient, suggesting that CapriPure is a good alternative to Percoll for goat sperm separation. However, further studies are needed to assess the fertilizing capacity of spermatozoa following the use of the CapriPure gradient.