Assessment of an iPad-based sperm motility analyzer for determination of canine sperm motility

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the repeatability and accuracy of canine sperm motility (total and progressive) assessment with a tablet-based Canine iSperm ® instrument compared to computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA). The experiment used fresh and frozen/thawed canine semen samples for comparisons of semen analysis parameters (concentration, total motility, and progressive motility) between a CASA system, iSperm ®, and NucleoCounter ® SP-100 ™ (concentration) instruments. Spearman’s Rho correlational analysis was used to identify significant associations between motility assessment methods. Significant positive correlations were found between CASA assessment and iSperm ® for both progressive and total motility measurements. We also determined the coefficient of variation (CV) for repeatability of sample analysis for iSperm ® and CASA for fresh sperm, wherein each sample was assessed 10 times on both devices. For fresh and frozen-thawed samples, concentration assessment by iSperm ® showed high variability (CV= 19.9 ± 1.5%). For iSperm ® assessment of total and progressive motility, the CV’s were 6.3 ± 0.5% and 10.7 ± 0.8%, respectively. The results indicate that the iSperm ® application offers an accurate and alternative measurement of motility to traditional CASA analysis, though caution should be taken when assessing concentration due to the high CV observed in this study.

Sperm Gone Smart: A Portable Device (iSperm®) to Assess Semen Concentration and Motility in Dogs

“…The high intra-assay variability of the iSperm ® , already described in a previous study [ 19 ], could be explained by the limited number of spermatozoa captured and analyzed in one field (±50 spermatozoa for a concentration of 40 × 10 6 /mL). At the same concentration, the ISAS ® v1 analyzed ±200 spermatozoa per field which limits variation between fields to less than 10% for all the parameters, except for concentration.…”

“…The cassette was then inserted into the fluorescence detector of the machine and the semen concentration of the sample was reported. For an accurate assessment of motility with iSperm ® [ 19 ] and ISAS ® v1 [ 25 ], semen was then diluted to a working concentration of 40 × 10 6 spermatozoa/mL into warm and sterile saline solution (NaCl 0.9%) [ 6 ].…”

“…Among them, the software iSperm ® , developed by Aidmics Biotechnology (Taipei City, Taiwan), uses the camera of an iPad Mini 4 (Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA, USA) and a heating chamber to capture and analyze multiple videoframes of semen at 37 °C. The iSperm ® software has species-specific settings and its use in stallions [ 14 , 17 ], boars [ 18 ], and stud dogs [ 19 ] has been reported in the literature. This portable tool was found accurate in estimating different semen concentrations when compared with both NucleoCounter ® and hemocytometer in stallions [ 14 , 17 ].…”

“…This portable tool was found accurate in estimating different semen concentrations when compared with both NucleoCounter ® and hemocytometer in stallions [ 14 , 17 ]. Results for motility assessment were encouraging in stallions and dogs [ 14 , 17 , 19 ], although accuracy in estimating velocity parameters should be improved in stallions [ 14 ]. In dogs, the strong positive correlation described between CASA systems and the iSperm ® for both total and progressive motility needs yet to be confirmed on a larger set of samples [ 19 ].…”

“…Results for motility assessment were encouraging in stallions and dogs [ 14 , 17 , 19 ], although accuracy in estimating velocity parameters should be improved in stallions [ 14 ]. In dogs, the strong positive correlation described between CASA systems and the iSperm ® for both total and progressive motility needs yet to be confirmed on a larger set of samples [ 19 ]. Moreover, the ability of the iSperm ® in estimating other velocity parameters is still to be investigated.…”