Development of Annexin V Technology for Removal of Dead Spermatozoa from Bovine Spermatozoa and Its Application in Frozen Sexed Semen Production

[Objectives]This study was conducted to develop a molecular marker immunomagnetic bead sorting technology method that can specifically identify dead spermatozoa.[Methods]This study first confirmed the specific binding of Annexin V to dead bovine spermatozoa,and tried to remove dead spermatozoa in semen combining with the immunomagnetic bead technology,so as to improve the separation efficiency of target spermatozoa in the process of sex-controlled semen preparation on a flow cytometer.[Results]The spermatozoon motility,membrane integrity and mitochondrial activity after sorting and the rate of dead spermatozoa during the on-machine X/Y separation were all improved to different degrees(P<0.05),indicating that the technical process design could effectively remove some dead spermatozoa,and there was no significant effect on frozen sexed semen prepared from the separated X or Y spermatozoa(P>0.05),indicating that the technical process did not cause additional damage to the spermatozoa.[Conclusions]Combining the specificity of Annexin V with the immunomagnetic bead method could effectively remove dead spermatozoa from bovine spermatozoa,and significantly reduce the rate of dead spermatozoa in bovine permatozoa during sex-controlled separation(P<0.05).The method developed can effectively improve the production efficiency of frozen sexed semen of dairy cows,reduce the production cost,and promote the industrial application of the product.