An immunochemical assay to detect DNA damage in bovine sperm.

An immunochemical assay has been developed to detect oxidative damage in bovine sperm DNA. Sperm DNA contains a large amount of oxidative damage as a result of exposure to exogenous agents, but damage also can caused by normal metabolic processes and the absence of DNA repair in the later stages of spermatogenesis. A freeze-thaw procedure performed on extended bovine sperm in straws did not induce additional DNA damage immediately after thawing compared with nonfrozen extended sperm. The data suggest that the amount of oxidative damage correlated to the percentage of artificially inseminated cows returning to service within 56 days postinsemination, because a number of sires with high sperm concentrations had a large variation in fertility after artificial insemination. These observations have led to the conclusion that by measuring DNA damage in thawed sperm, one might predict the fertility of bulls with high semen concentration.