Involuntary childlessness is a big problem around the world. One way to solve the problem is to receive oocytes or semen from a donor. In Sweden, semen donation has been regulated by law since 1985 and oocyte donation since 2003. The aim of this study was to investigate what motivations women and men in Sweden have to donate gametes, if they feel any ambivalence to donate, and to compare if there is any difference in motivation and ambivalence between women and men. Motivation was measured with eight statements based on previous results and clinical experience.

At SLU, Divison of Reproduction, Dept of Clinical Science, there is an ongoing project on the development and evaluation of new methods for the assessment of stallion semen quality. This EEF-study, which is a part of that larger project, has focused on the effects on motility and fertility of stallion semen of two different extenders and selection. Both an objective method and a subjective method for analysis have been used and compared in the study. The increase in the use of artificial insemination with cooled semen in Swedish horse breeding over the last decade is thought to play a part in declining foaling rates (Kareskoski et al, 2006, Kuisma et al, 2006). This calls for better evaluation methods of semen quality since cooling and transportation put higher demands on semen quality in order to maintain fertility (Aurich, 2005).

This study is a part of a larger project where the aim has been to evaluate different methods to assure the quality in stallion semen, due to the fact that some stallions in horse breeding have poor semen quality. The increased use of transport semen requires new methods to ensure good semen quality. In this part of the project the viability and concentration in fresh and cooled semen was examined with NucleoCounter SP-100. A comparison between two different commercially available semen extenders, Kenney?s and INRA 96, was made.

Detection of leukocytes in semen from boars is part of the routine control of semen quality. Leukocytes in semen can cause damage to Spermatozoa that leads to impaired fertilization. In the artificial insemination (AI) industry there are standard routines for the quality control of the boars and of the neat semen before use. Since 2001, Quality Genetics has not done the leukocyte examination on semen samples from boars which are used for the production of pigs for slaughter. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of leukocytes in semen from AI-boars. The questions addressed were whether there are boars that have leukocytes in their semen and how frequently it occurs and, moreover, if there are differences between breeds, or even between individuals whose semen was checked before use in AI-dose production compared to those which were not. The study included a total of 135 AI-boars, of which 67 were Hampshire, 35 Yorkshire and 33 Landrace, all belonging to Quality Genetics AI-station in Hållsta.

Syftet med detta arbete har varit att dels undersöka vid vilken ålder färdiga Spermier börjar ses i sädeskanalerna i testiklarna hos hankatter och dels undersöka om immunohistokemi med GATA-4-antikroppar kan användas som hjälpmedel för att särskilja på olika celltyper i sädesepitelet vid Spermieutvecklingsstudier hos katt. För att besvara den första frågeställningen undersöktes H&E-färgade testikelpreparat från 46 normalkastrerade hankatter med en ålder på mellan 2,5 månader och 5 år. Undersökningen gjordes med hjälp av ett ljusmikroskop med 100-1000 gångers förstoring. Spermieförekomst observerades hos 0/3 katter som var yngre än 5 månader, 2/4 katter som var 5 ? 5,5 månader gamla, 7/7 katter som var 6 ? 6,5 månader gamla, 6/8 katter som var 7 månader gamla och 23/24 katter som var 8 månader eller äldre. Slutsatsen i denna studie var att det finns en individuell variation för när Spermier börjar ses i testiklarna hos hankatter men generellt börjar inte Spermier dyka upp förrän tidigast när hankatterna uppnått 5 månaders ålder och vid 8 månaders ålder har generellt alla hankatter Spermier. För att besvara den andra frågeställningen genomfördes GATA-4-immunohistokemi på paraffininbäddade testikelpreparat från 21 normalkastrerade hankatter med en ålder på mellan 4,5 månader och 5 år.