Morphological abnormalities of rabbit spermatozoa studied by scanning electron microscope and quantified by light microscope.

Rabbit spermatozoa morphological abnormalities were examined to establish criteria for judging the quality of ejaculates. Ten New Zealand White bucks, aged 9 months and weighing 4.3 +/- 0.2 kg, were placed in a climatic chamber for 3 weeks at +20 degrees C and 70% RH. Sperm was collected three times a week using an artificial vagina. The use of a scanning electron microscope (from x 2000 to x 15,000) in this study produced an illustrated guide for the classification of abnormalities. Mean percentage quantitative values studied by light microscope (x 400) observation were: 18.2% total abnormalities, 2.9% head abnormalities, 13.6% tail abnormalities and 1.7% broken spermatozoa. Variability was very high (CV 35.7, 54.0, 45.3 and 32.5%, respectively); consequently, each ejaculate should be analysed before use for artificial insemination. Among the different tail abnormalities observed, the most frequent were coiled tails, 9.1%, cytoplasmic droplets, 2.4%, bent tails, 1.3% and swollen tails, 0.5%.