Oleuropein Effectively Improves the Quality of Pig Sperm at 17o C

Abstract

Artificial Insemination (AI) has been widely used in pig reproduction because of its low price and high efficiency. Cryopreservation of sperm not only leads to a sharp decline in sperm motility, but had high price in pig reproduction. Therefore, most of farms stored pig sperm at 17°C. During the preservation of sperm, the accumulation of Reactive Oxygen (ROS) is the main reason for the decline of sperm motility. The aim of our study was to reduce the accumulation of ROS and improve sperm quality by adding oleuropein (OLE, CAS No. 32619- 42-4) during the storage. The sperm samples were collected and diluted with different concentrations of oleuropein (0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 μmol/L). Sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, sperm Total Antioxidant Capacity (T-AOC), Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, Catalase (CAT) activity and Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) content of boar sperm were measured. The results suggested that adding 36μM of OLE samples significantly improved sperm quality during preservation at 17o C.