Comparative Analysis of Different Techniques to Determine Motility Parameters in Video Sequences of Ram and Buck Sperm

Abstract

In this paper we analyzed different techniques, included in the Sperm Motility Tracker (SMT) software, used to determine the standard motility parameters in video sequences of sperm. The commercial Sperm Class Analyzer (SCA) software was used as reference to evaluate the two proposed methods. Two tests were performed: first, samples of ram and buck sperm with a constant frame rate were analyzed and the linear correlation coefficient was found between the variables measured with each method and with the commercial SCA. In the second test, samples of ram sperm were acquired with three different frame rates and the parameters that depend on the smoothing procedure were compared. As a result of both tests, the measurements obtained with the SMT were very similar to the ones obtained with the SCA for the most of variables. As a particular case, one of the proposed methods showed a slightly better performance to measure the amplitude of lateral head oscillation (ALH), but the measures of the beat-cross frequency (BCF) present significant differences regarding the commercial SCA values.