Effects of Curcumin from Turmeric Supplementation in Freezing Buffer on Sperm Motilities and Reactive Oxygen Species Generation
In this experiment, we determined the effect of curcumin supplementation in freezing buffer for miniature pig sperm cryopreservation. Each ejaculate was diluted with modified Modena B extender and mixed with lactose-egg yolk (LEY extender, 80% v/v lactose solution [310 mM], 20% v/v egg yolk, and100 μg/mL kanamycin sulfate) and LEY-glycerol Orvus ES Paste (LEYGO, 89.5% v/v LEY, 5% v/v glycerol, 1.5% v/v Orvus ES Paste), 100 mM trehalose supplemented with 0, 10, 50, 100, and 500 μM of curcumin from turmeric, respectively. Following equilibration, the 0.5 mL French straws were frozen and plunged into LN2 tank for 7 days at least. Sperm parameter and oxidative byproducts were determined by the computer assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) as compared with each groups.Supplementation of curcumin had no effect on sperm motility, progressive motility and curvilinear velocity. However, average-path velocity and straight-line velocity were significantly higher in 10 μM curcumin group (100.9±8.8 μm/s, 61.7±2.9 μm/s, respectively) than control group (77.8±3.9 μm/s, 46.4±3.0 μm/s, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, the level of the O2 radical and H2O2 were comparatively decreased in curcumin groups by evaluation of ethidium and DCF fluorescence. According to the results, curcumin can improve sperm kinetic variables and alleviate ROS induced cryoinjury to pig sperm.