Alpha-lipoic acid improves the quality of ram spermatozoa stored at 4°C by reducing oxidative stress and increasing mitochondrial potential

Xiaomei Sun; Liuming Zhang; Yan Kang; Xuyang Wang; Caiyu Jiang; Jian Wang; Tariq Sohail; Yongjun Li

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1345016

Alpha-lipoic acid improves the quality of ram spermatozoa stored at 4°C by reducing oxidative stress and increasing mitochondrial potential

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Jan 8:10:1345016. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1345016. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaomei Sun^#¹, Liuming Zhang^#¹, Yan Kang¹, Xuyang Wang¹, Caiyu Jiang¹, Jian Wang¹, Tariq Sohail¹, Yongjun Li¹

Affiliation

¹ Key Laboratory for Animal Genetics & Molecular Breeding of Jiangsu Province; College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Ram spermatozoa inevitably produce a large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during liquid storage, leading to oxidative stress and a decline of spermatozoa quality. Therefore, it is particularly important to add exogenous antioxidants during the process of semen liquid preservation. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether adding alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) to ram semen can reduce oxidative stress and enhance spermatozoa quality during the liquid storage at 4°C.

Methods: Different concentrations of ALA (0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1 mM) were added to semen and stored at 4°C. During storage at 4°C, spermatozoa motility, kinetic parameters, membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, energy metabolism parameters (mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨM) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP)) and oxidative stress parameters [ROS, malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), superoxide dismutase (SOD)] were assessed.

Results and discussion: The results indicated that 0.1 mM ALA significantly (p<0.05) improved spermatozoa total motility (TM) and progressive motility (PM), plasma membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, ΔΨM, ATP, TAC, and SOD, while significantly (p<0.05) reducing spermatozoa ROS and MDA content compared to the control group. In conclusion, ALA can reduce damage caused by oxidative stress in spermatozoa and effectively improve the quality of semen preserved at 4°C. And the optimal concentration is 0.1 mM.

Keywords: alpha-lipoic acid; low temperature; oxidative stress; sheep; spermatozoa.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by Jiangsu Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System Construction Project (JATS [2023]448) and Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX22_3531).