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Biologie

Sperm Collection and Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis in the Teleost Model Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes)

Published: October 06, 2022
doi:
10.3791/64326
, ,
1Department of Preclinical Sciences and Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,Norwegian University of Life Sciences, 2Department of Production Animal Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,Norwegian University of Life Sciences

Summary

This article describes two quick and efficient methods for collecting sperm from the small model fish medaka (Oryzias latipes), as well as a protocol for reliably assessing sperm quality using computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA).

Abstract

Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) is a teleost fish and an emerging vertebrate model for ecotoxicology, developmental, genetics, and physiology research. Medaka is also used extensively to investigate vertebrate reproduction, which is an essential biological function as it allows a species to perpetuate. Sperm quality is an important indicator of male fertility and, thus, reproduction success. Techniques for extracting sperm and sperm analysis are well documented for many species, including teleost fish. Collecting sperm is relatively simple in larger fish but can be more complicated in small model fish as they produce less sperm and are more delicate. This article, therefore, describes two methods of sperm collection in the small model fish, Japanese medaka: testes dissection and abdominal massage. This paper demonstrates that both approaches are feasible for medaka and shows that abdominal massage can be performed a repeated number of times as the fish quickly recover from the procedure. This article also describes a protocol for computer-assisted sperm analysis in medaka to objectively assess several important indicators of medaka sperm quality (motility, progressivity, duration of motility, relative concentration). These procedures, specified for this useful small teleost model, will greatly enhance understanding of the environmental, physiological, and genetic factors influencing fertility in vertebrate males.

Introduction

Japanese medaka is a small, egg-laying freshwater teleost fish native to East Asia. Medaka has become an excellent vertebrate model system for ecotoxicology, developmental genetics, genomics, and evolutionary biology and physiology studies1,2. Similar to the popular zebrafish, they are relatively easy to breed and highly resistant to many common fish diseases1,2. There are several advantages of using medaka as a model, including a short generation time, transparent embryos1,2, and a sequenced genome3. Unlike zebrafish, medaka has a sex-determining gene4 as well as a high temperature (from 4-40 °C) and salinity (euryhaline species) tolerance5. Also, many genetic and anatomical tools, as well as protocols6,7,8,9,10,11,12, have been developed in medaka to facilitate the study of its biology.

Reproduction is an essential physiological function as it allows a species to perpetuate. Vertebrate reproduction requires a myriad of precisely orchestrated events, including the production of oocytes in females and the production of sperm in males. Sperm are unique cells, produced through the complex process of spermatogenesis, in which there are a number of checkpoints in place to guarantee delivery of a high-quality product13. Gamete quality has become a focus in aquaculture and fish population studies due to its impact on fertilization success and larval survival. Sperm quality is, therefore, an important indicator of male fertility in vertebrates.

Three useful factors for assessing fish sperm quality are motility, progressivity, and longevity. Percent motility and progressive motility are common indicators of sperm quality as progressive motion is necessary for and correlates strongly with fertilization success14,15. Duration of movement is also an important indicator in fish as sperm remain fully motile for less than 2 min in most teleost species and the trajectory of sperm is generally less linear than in mammals15. However, many studies assessing sperm motility in the past relied on subjective or semi-quantitative methods of analyzing sperm15,16. For instance, sperm motility in medaka has been estimated in the past visually under a microscope17. It has also been estimated by recording sperm movement and using imaging software to merge frames and measure swimming path and velocity18,19,20. Such approaches often lack robustness, providing different results according to the person performing the analysis15,21.

Computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) was initially developed for mammals. CASA is a fast quantitative method to assess sperm quality by recording and measuring velocity and trajectory in an automated manner15. In fishes, it has been used in different species to monitor the effects of several water pollutants on sperm quality, for identifying interesting progenitors to improve broodstock, to improve the efficiency of cryopreservation and storage, and to optimize conditions for fertilization15. Therefore, it is a powerful tool for reliably assessing sperm quality in different vertebrate species. However, due to the important diversity in reproductive strategies between fishes, the sperm of teleost fish differs from that of mammals and from one fish species to another. Teleost fish, which primarily fertilize eggs externally by releasing gametes into water, have highly concentrated sperm that are relatively simple in structure with no acrosome, unlike mammals, which fertilize internally and therefore do not have to compensate for dilution in water, but do have to withstand more viscous fluids14. Additionally, sperm from most fish move rapidly but are fully motile for less than 2 min after activation, although there are several exceptions15,22. Because motility can decrease rapidly in most fish, extreme care should be taken with the timing of analysis after activation when determining a sperm analysis protocol for fish.

Reproduction is one of the fields in biology in which teleosts and medaka have been extensively used as model organisms. Indeed, medaka males show interesting reproductive and social behaviors, such as mate guarding23,24. In addition, several transgenic lines exist to study the neuroendocrine control of reproduction in this species25,26,27. Sperm sampling, a procedure that is relatively simple in larger fish, can be more complicated in small model fish as they produce less sperm and are more delicate. For this reason, most studies involving sperm sampling in medaka extract milt (fish semen) by crushing dissected testes17,28,29,30. A few studies also use a modified abdominal massage to express the milt directly into activating medium18,19,20; however, with this method it is difficult to visualize the amount and color of milt extracted. In zebrafish, abdominal massage is commonly used to express milt, which is immediately collected in a capillary tube31,32,33. This method enables estimation of the volume of milt, as well as observation of ejaculate color, which is a quick and simple indicator of sperm quality32,33. Therefore, a clear and well described protocol for sperm collection and analysis is lacking for medaka.

This article therefore describes two methods of sperm collection in the small model fish Japanese medaka: testes dissection and abdominal massage with capillary tubes. It demonstrates that both approaches are feasible for medaka and shows that abdominal massage can be performed a repeated number of times as the fish quickly recovers from the procedure. It also describes a protocol for computer-assisted sperm analysis in medaka to reliably measure several important indicators of medaka sperm quality (motility, progressivity, longevity, and relative sperm concentration). These procedures, specified for this useful small teleost model, will greatly enhance understanding of the environmental, physiological, and genetic factors influencing fertility in vertebrate males.

Protocol

All experimentation and animal handling were conducted in accordance with the recommendations on the experimental animal welfare at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). The experiments were performed using adult (6-9-month-old) male Japanese medaka (Hd-rR strain) raised at NMBU (Ås, Norway). The methods were also briefly tested in 9-month-old male Japanese medaka (CAB strain) raised at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE, Rennes, France). <p class="jove_titl…

Representative Results

Type of data obtained Sperm motility analysis from the SCA Evolution software provides data on motility (percentage of motile and immotile sperm), as well as progressivity (percentage of progressive and non-progressive sperm), and velocity (percentage of rapid, medium, and slow-moving sperm). It also combines progressivity and velocity (rapid progressive, medium progressive, non-progressive). These labels are based on measurements (Figure 3A) and calculations (<strong …

Discussion

Osmolality is an important factor in the activation of fish sperm36,37. Generally, sperm are immotile in the testes and become motile in media that is hyperosmotic relative to seminal fluid for marine fishes, and hypo-osmotic relative to seminal fluid for freshwater fishes37. Similar to blood, seminal plasma in freshwater fishes is typically lower than that of marine fishes (about 300 mOsmol/kg compared to 400 mOsmol/kg)2…

Offenlegungen

The authors have nothing to disclose.

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the U.S. Fulbright program. The authors would like to thank Anthony Peltier and Lourdes Carreon G Tan at NMBU for fish facility maintenance and Guillaume Gourmelin from the ISC LPGP at INRAE (France) for providing fish and lab space to further test these methods.

Materials

1.5 mL tubes Axygen MCT-150-C Any standard brand can be used
10 µL disposable calibrated glass micropipette and aspirator tube assembly Drummond 2-000-010
10x objective with phase contrast Nikon MRP90100
2 mL tubes Axygen MCT-200-c-s Any standard brand can be used
Blunt forceps Fine Science Tools 11000-12
Blunt smooth forceps Millipore XX6200006P
Disposable 20 micron counting chamber slide Microptic 20.2.25  Leja 2 chamber slides
Dissecting microscope Olympus SZX7 Any standard brand can be used
Fine forceps Fine Science Tools 11253-20
HBSS Sigmaaldrich H8264-1L
Holding sponge self-made
Inverted microscope Nikon Eclipse Ts2R
SCA Evolution Microptic
Small dissecting scissors Fine Science Tools 14090-09
Sodium Chloride (NaCl) Sigmaaldrich S9888
Tabletop vortex Labnet C1301B
Tricaine Sigmaaldrich A5040
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Referenzen

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Tags

Sperm CollectionComputer-assisted Sperm AnalysisJapanese MedakaOryzias LatipesAbdominal MassageSperm QualityFertilization SuccessMiltCryo PreservationAnesthesiaDissecting MicroscopeActivating SolutionTestes
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Closs, L., Sayyari, A., Fontaine, R. Sperm Collection and Computer-Assisted Sperm Analysis in the Teleost Model Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes). J. Vis. Exp. (188), e64326, doi:10.3791/64326 (2022).
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