Categories
Nevin Manimala Statistics

Influence of seminal plasma during different stages of bovine sperm cryopreservation

Reprod Domest Anim. 2021 Mar 16. doi: 10.1111/rda.13928. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of seminal plasma on bovine sperm cryopreservation and to assess the integrity of plasma and acrosomal membranes, mitochondrial potential, remodeling of F-actin cytoskeleton and sperm chromatin fragmentation during the cooling, equilibrium and freezing/thawing stages. Six ejaculates collected from 7 Nelore bulls (n=42) were used in this study. Each ejaculate was divided into two aliquots (with seminal plasma=SP group; without seminal plasma=NSP group) and packed to a final concentration of 50 x 106 sperm per straw. Statistical analyses were performed using SAS software (version 9.3) and P≤0.05 was considered significant. A time effect was observed for all sperm characteristics (P<0.05), except for chromatin fragmentation (P>0.05). The presence of seminal plasma better preserved the acrosomal integrity (SP=75.2% and NSP=71.7%; P<0.05) and also provided lower F-actin remodeling during cryopreservation process (SP=29.9% and NSP=32.4%; P<0.05). Regarding to the cryopreservation stages, it was observed that cooling step induced higher remodeling of F-actin than the equilibrium and freezing/thawing stages (56.3%, 32.2% and 23.9%, respectively; P<0.05). The equilibrium step had minor influence on overall sperm characteristics while the freezing/thawing stage was responsible for the highest percentage of damage in plasma membrane (-65.2%), acrosomal membrane (-34.0%) and mitochondrial potential (-48.1%). On the other hand, none of the cryopreservation stages affected chromatin integrity. It was concluded that the presence of seminal plasma provides increased acrosomal integrity and reduced remodeling of F-actin cytoskeleton. Higher F-actin remodeling is observed after the cooling step while the freezing/thawing step is most damaging to sperm membranes and mitochondrial potential during bovine sperm cryopreservation.

PMID:33724558 | DOI:10.1111/rda.13928

By Nevin Manimala

Portfolio Website for Nevin Manimala