Efficiency of magnetic-activated cell sorting using Y-specific monoclonal antibodies on the quality of porcine sexed semen.

Sex preselection is an effective strategy in the swine industry to enhance the production of female piglets for gilt replacement. One promising method is immunological sperm sexing, which employs monoclonal antibodies (C2B2-MAbs) that target the plasma membrane of porcine Y-sperm. C2B2-MAbs exhibits high affinity and specificity for Y-sperm, allowing for precise and selective targeting. This study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of sexing porcine sperm by using C2B2-MAbs combined with magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) to improve the separation of X/Y-sperm while also ensuring the preservation of sperm quality after the sperm sexing. CB-microbeads at 16 mg/mL were used to separate porcine sperm into X- and Y-enriched fractions. After sperm sexing, all fractions were evaluated for sperm quality, including sperm motility and kinematic variables, acrosome integrity, apoptosis, and X/Y-sperm ratio. CB-microbeads at 16 mg/mL released 77.65 ± 1.20 % of X-sperm in the X-enriched and 81.00 ± 0.42 % of Y-sperm in the Y-enriched fractions. X-enriched fractions had motility, acrosome integrity, and apoptosis comparable to conventional sperm. In contrast, Y-enriched fractions had low motility and increased apoptosis and necrosis. X-sperm quality remained unaffected, whereas Y-sperm quality declined, suggesting that the elution method needs to be improved. This MACS-based technique offers an effective alternative to porcine sperm sexing.