Abstract
Antibiotic supplementation into semen extenders is an important way to control several microorganisms that can affect semen quality by their presence. The objective of the present work is to estimate the effect of two different concentrations (300 µg/mL and 600 µg/mL) of penicillin on the selected quality parameters of spermatozoa collected from bulls (motility, mitochondrial activity, acrosome integrity and membrane integrity) after 0, 2 and 24 h of in vitro culture. Sperm motion was examined using HTM IVOS computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA), cell viability was assessed with the metabolic activity (MTT) assay. The acrosomal integrity was evaluated following the fast green – rose bengal staining protocol and the eosin – nigrosin staining method was used to assess the functional integrity of the sperm membrane. Our results indicate that penicillin at lower amount significantly (p>0.05) decreased the sperm motility, mitochondrial activity and membrane integrity after 24 h of in vitro culture. Supplementation of higher doses of this substance led to a significant decrease of the sperm motion during 0, 2 (p>0.05) as well as after 24 h (p>0.01), of the viability after 2 h (p>0.05) and 24 h (p>0.01), of the acrosomal integrity after 24 h (p>0.05) and of the membrane integrity at 24 h (p>0.001) too. We can consider, that the effect of penicillin addition to bovine spermatozoa during in vitro incubation is time and dose dependent.
Highlights
Semen quality may be highly challenged by the presence of bacteriospermia
The most common combination of antibiotics added to bovine semen are penicillin and streptomycin, followed by gentamycin, tylosin, lincomycin and spectinomycin (Visser et al, 1999), but some microorganisms may have a resistance to them (Morrell and Wallgren, 2014)
This decreasing ability of fertilization can be caused by the penicillin content what points to the negative effect of this antibiotic on the basic semen parameters such as sperm motility, acrosome integrity, mitochondrial activity and membrane integrity as was showed in our results
Summary
Semen quality may be highly challenged by the presence of bacteriospermia. Microorganisms cause lower reproductive functions of males, by agglutination of motile sperm, by alternations in cell morphology and by reducing the occurrence of acrosome reaction (Azawi and Ismaeel, 2011). Semen samples are usually collected from the farm animals using an open-ended artificial vagina. This process can be compromised with bacterial contamination, which eventually causes lower semen quality during storage and contaminates the female reproductive tract (Yániz et al, 2010). The presence and the multiplication of the bacteria in semen may deteriorate the semen samples during in vitro culture (Moretti et al, 2009). Over the last 60 years bovine semen samples have been extended in the presence antibiotics to control bacterial growth. Bacterial populations that could be present in semen samples are controlled by antibiotics present in semen extenders (Boonthai et al, 2015; Avilés et al, 2019). The most common combination of antibiotics added to bovine semen are penicillin and streptomycin, followed by gentamycin, tylosin, lincomycin and spectinomycin (Visser et al, 1999), but some microorganisms may have a resistance to them (Morrell and Wallgren, 2014)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
