Differences in bull spermiograms using eosin-nigrosin stain, feulgen stain, and phase contrast microscopy methods

The Society for Theriogenology recently adopted a minimum standard of 70% normal spermatozoa for the bull breeding soundness examination (BSE). We conducted this study to determine if spermiograms derived by brightfield microscopy of eosin-nigrosin stained semen smears (Society method) overestimated the proportion of normal spermatozoa. Comparison of the above method was made with that of phase contrast microscopy (Phase method). We then evaluated our ability to discern head abnormalities by comparing brightfield microscopy of Feulgen-stained sperm DNA (Feulgen method) with those of the Society and Phase methods. Spermiograms were determined for each of the 181 beef bulls using all 3 methods. Only bulls that were being routinely tested prior to the 1993 breeding season were included. The mean percentage of normal spermatozoa surpassed the minimum standard with the Society (72.8%) but not the Phase (52.5%) method, which identified more distal cytoplasmic droplets that adhered to cells without distal midpiece reflexes. The Phase method also identified more total primary and fewer primary head abnormalities. We conclude that the Phase method is not a suitable substitute for the Society method when applying the minimum standard during a routine BSE. The Feulgen method identified more head abnormalities, especially in the pattern of DNA, than the other methods, however, when compared to the minimum standard that improvement was not clinically important. Both the Phase and Feulgen methods are better than the Society method for monitoring changes in abnormal spermiograms over time.