Inhibition of ROS production by adding targeted antioxidants MitoQ and their effect on the performance of freeze-thawed rooster sperm

One of the main reasons for the reduced viability of cryopreserved sperm is the production of active oxygen species (ROS). Since the selection of antioxidants to inhibit ROS production due to their inability to penetrate the original site of ROS production (mitochondria) has not been effective in sperm cryopreservation programs, therefore, for this purpose, we investigated a new method for inhibiting Ros production in the cryopreservation of roster sperm. In this study, 14 mature roosters (Ross commercial strain) with 28 weeks of age were used. First semen samples were evaluated for having the necessary standards. Then, they were pooled, diluted and supplemented with five levels of MitoQ (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 nm) before cryopreservation. After freeze-thawing, the parameters of viability, sperm motility parameters, plasma membrane integrity, lipid peroxidation and sperm morphology were evaluated. Data analysis was done by GLM procedure using SAS software (9.3) in a completely randomized design with five treatments and five replications. Tukey test was used to compare the mean of treatments. The results of this study showed that the addition of MitoQ to the rooster semen cryopreservation medium significantly reduced lipid peroxidation and increased survival, plasma membrane integrity and sperm morphology. The results showed that, the addition of MitoQ at 0.1 nm improved total and progressive motility, viability, and plasma membrane integrity of sperms compared to the control group, and also significantly decreased MDA concentration compared to the control group (p <0.05) .