Age-dependent changes in metabolic profile of turkey spermatozoa as assessed by NMR analysis

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 13;13(3):e0194219. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194219. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Metabolic profile of fresh turkey spermatozoa at three different reproductive period ages, namely 32, 44 and 56 weeks, was monitored by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and correlated to sperm quality parameters. The age-related decrease in sperm quality as indicated by reduction of sperm concentration, sperm mobility and osmotic tolerance was associated to variation in the level of specific water-soluble and liposoluble metabolites. In particular, the highest levels of isoleucine, phenylalanine, leucine, tyrosine and valine were found at 32 weeks of age, whereas aspartate, lactate, creatine, carnitine, acetylcarnitine levels increased during the ageing. Lipid composition also changed during the ageing: diunsaturated fatty acids level increased from 32 to 56 weeks of age, whereas a reduction of polyunsaturated fatty acids content was observed at 56 weeks. The untargeted approach attempts to give a wider picture of metabolic changes occurring in ageing suggesting that the reduction of sperm quality could be due to a progressive deficiency in mitochondrial energy producing systems, as also prompted by the negative correlation found between sperm mobility and the increase in certain mitochondrial metabolites.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Lipid Metabolism
  • Lipids / analysis
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Male
  • Metabolome / physiology*
  • Metabolomics / methods
  • Mitochondria / metabolism*
  • Reproduction / physiology*
  • Sperm Count
  • Sperm Motility / physiology
  • Spermatozoa / metabolism*
  • Turkeys / physiology*

Substances

  • Lipids

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by PRIN 2008 (2008RN9SCP_002) to NI and the Sapienza University Project 2016 to LM. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.