The encapsulation of swine spermatozoa in calcium alginate gel capsules has been recently proposed to obtain the controlled release of the semen for sow artificial insemination (1,2). In this work a different ion, barium, is used to improve the encapsulation technique and the biological stability of the cells (3). The main problem in the encapsulation process of seminal material is whether the procedure could influence spermatozoa structure as, for example, acrosomal integrity. The image of spermatozoa ultrastrueture could evidence any possible modification of the cells after the encapsulation process which may reduce their fertilizing ability. Tipically, spermatozoa are constituted by a head formed by a nucleus with an acrosome and a pericephalic cytoplasm, by an intermediate tract, the neck, and a tail; all these structures are fundamental for the correct functions of spermatozoa. During fertilization the acrosomal reaction plays a critical role because it delivers enzymes able to break the protective capsule of oocyte. In this work the integrity of fresh swine spermatozoa, used as control, and after its encapsulation in controlled release barium alginate capsules has been evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
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