. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Nov 1.

Published in final edited form as: Reprod Fertil Dev. 2013 Aug;25(7):1051–1064. doi: 10.1071/RD12212

Table 3.

Effect of osmotic stress on motility, plasma membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential in epididymal rat spermatozoa

Sperm functional parameters	Isotonic	Hypotonic	Hypertonic
Motility characteristics
Total motility (%)	78.12 ± 2.04^a	9.56 ± 2.11^b	50.27 ± 4.50^c
Progressive motility (%)	21.63 ± 0.89^a	2.54 ± 0.89^b	9.41 ± 1.96^c
Average path velocity (μm s⁻¹)	169.58 ± 7.43^a	27.34 ± 4.99^b	83.96 ± 9.03^c
Intact plasma membrane (%)	65.20 ± 1.36^a	3.17 ± 0.61^b	48.63 ± 4.98^c
High MMP (intensity of orange JC-1 staining)
Bright J_agg⁺ (%)	61.36 ± 2.30^a	2.01 ± 0.29^b	37.85 ± 5.67^c
Bright J_agg⁺/PI⁻ (%)	60.19 ± 2.24^a	1.80 ± 0.27^b	37.13 ± 5.67^c
Ratio of bright J_agg⁺ to viable spermatozoa (%)	93.38 ± 0.85^a	23.77 ± 5.76^b	76.85 ± 7.06^c
J_aggMFI/total spermatozoa	702.23 ± 53.05^a	217.02 ± 18.84^b	429.54 ± 60.17^c
J_aggMFI/viable spermatozoa	1280.53 ± 105.45^a	371.99 ± 28.54^b	1084.21 ± 137.45^a

Data are the mean ± s.e.m. (n = 8). Within rows, different superscript letters indicate significant differences (P < 0.05).

MMP, mitochondrial membrane potential; J_agg, formation of an aggregate by JC-1 that fluoresces orange; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; PI, propidium iodide