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3.4.1. Abstract
CHAPTER 3.4
In this study, two software versions of the sperm quality analyzer V equine were tested for
analyzing frozen-thawed equine semen. The first version (1.00.43) was poorly repeatable and agreed
poorly with CASA. A newer software version with improved algorithms (1.00.61) was capable of
analyzing the total motility in a more acceptable way although further improvements are mandatory
before this device could serve as a diagnostic tool.
3.4.2. Introduction
Frozen equine semen is very often sold by the dose without any guarantee of producing a
pregnancy. It is to be preferred to provide the mare owner with some quality assurance when selling
the semen although one realizes sperm quality assessment remains subject for discussion. At least,
subjective estimation of sperm motility is inaccurate and imprecise particularly if performed by
inexperienced personnel (Davis and Katz, 1993). Nevertheless, motility remains one of the most
important parameters when determining semen quality (Varner, 2008). Objective analysis using
computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) has a reputation of providing repeatable results that are
however significantly influenced by motility settings (Hoogewijs et al., 2009).
For human andrology research an automated device which does not require motility settings,
the sperm quality analyzer (SQA, Medical Electronic Systems, Caesarea, Israel), has been developed
in the 1980s (Bartoov et al., 1981). Recently, other versions of the SQA have become available for
veterinary use. One of those, the SQA-Ve was especially designed for analyzing equine semen. This
device (version 1.00.43) has been tested previously for analyzing raw and extended semen
(Hoogewijs et al., 2010) and showed a good repeatability and good agreement when assessing
concentration. Motility determined using the SQA-Ve, however, was poorly repeatable with a poor
agreement to the gold standard. In that study, the device was not tested for its capability to analyze
frozen-thawed semen.
The aims of this study were to evaluate the repeatability of the SQA-Ve (1.00.43) and the
agreement of two different SQA-Ve software versions (1.00.43 and 1.0061) with CASA for the
analysis of frozen-thawed equine semen.
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