Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of epicatechin (EPI) on the motility, viability, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of bovine spermatozoa in the presence of various EPI doses during different time periods (Time 0 h, 2 h, 6 h, 24 h). Semen samples were cultivated in physiological saline solution containing 200, 100, 50, 10, 5 and 1 μM/L of EPI dissolved in 0.5% DMSO. Spermatozoa motility was determined using the HTM IVOS and CASA (Computer Assisted Semen Analyzer) system. The cell viability was measured by the MTT (metabolic activity) assay and chemiluminescence was evaluated to quantify the ROS generation. Initial (0 h) viability was significantly improved (P
Highlights
Though a lot of studies have shown upturn of sperm quality and fertilizing ability after antioxidant administration, current attention has been aimed on natural substances and extracts with different beneficial properties including antioxidant effect
It is known that the antioxidant activity of polyphenols such as epicatechin is mediated by hydrogen-donating capacity of their phenolic groups
One of the strategies for mitigate the impact of reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction during processing of sperm is to enhance the antioxidant capacity of medium; for example, administration of natural substances with antioxidant activity to utilized sperm buffer, such as curcumin (Tvrdá et al, 2015), lycopene (Tvrdá et al, 2016) and many others
Summary
Though a lot of studies have shown upturn of sperm quality and fertilizing ability after antioxidant administration, current attention has been aimed on natural substances and extracts with different beneficial properties including antioxidant effect. High concentrations of epicatechin are in green tea, apples, blackberries, broad beans, cherries, black grapes, pears, raspberries, and cocoa beans (Gadkari and Balaraman, 2015) Nowadays these natural compounds are becoming increasingly popular in association with their potential as biological active substances, such as antimutagenic and antitumorigenic activity. It is known that the antioxidant activity of polyphenols such as epicatechin is mediated by hydrogen-donating capacity of their phenolic groups. Another antioxidant property is their metal-chelating potential which may play a key role in the protection against iron- and copper-induced free radical reactions. This study was carried out to test the antioxidant effects of different epicatechin concentrations during in vitro cultivation at several time periods on the motility, sperm viability and production of reactive oxygen substances of bovine spermatozoa
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