TITLE:
Bovine Sperm Motility as Affected by Alpha Tocopherol and Ascorbic Acid during Storage
AUTHORS:
Ryan Page, Charles Rosenkrans Jr.
KEYWORDS:
Bull Spermatozoa, Antioxidants, Cryopreservation
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Reproductive Sciences,
Vol.7 No.2,
May
22,
2019
ABSTRACT: Our purpose was to determine the impact of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol on bovine sperm motility following short-term storage or cryopreservation. Semen was collected from mature Angus bulls (n = 4). The experimental design was a randomized complete block, with bull serving as block, and treatments were structured as a 4 × 4 factorial with four concentrations of ascorbic acid (0, 5, 10, 20 mM) and four concentrations of α-tocopherol (0, 0.05, 0.5, 5 mM). Sperm motility characteristics were evaluated using computer assisted sperm analyses at 0, 4, and 8 h of incubation (39˚C) and post-cryopreservation. Initial sperm motility was (79.6% ± 1.6) and decreased to (6.1% ± 1.6%) after cryopreservation. Cryopreserved spermatozoa had lower (P P > 0.1) by α-tocopherol. Addition of 20 mM ascorbic acid to storage media decreased (P P α-tocopherol. Stepwise regression models predicted (P α-tocopherol was not beneficial for short-term storage of spermatozoa; however, our results were inconclusive with regards to inclusion of ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol in egg yolk-based cryopreservation media.