Effects of different concentrations of zinc oxide nanoparticles on the quality of ram cauda epididymal spermatozoa during storage at 4°C

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO‐NPs) are known for their antioxidant effects. In this study, ZnO‐NPs were synthesized using aqueous extract of Maclura pomifera fruit; then, their effects on the quality of ram cauda epididymal spermatozoa were evaluated during storage at 4°C. ZnO‐NPs formation was characterized by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopes (FE‐SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Cytotoxicity responses were investigated by 3‐[4,5‐dimethylthiazole‐2‐yl]‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Cauda epididymal spermatozoa were obtained from testicles collected from abattoir(s). The sperm samples were pooled. The samples were diluted by extender and supplemented with different concentrations of ZnO‐NPs (0, 1, 5 and 25 µg/ml) and cooled to 4°C for 72 hr. Total motility, viability, DNA and membrane integrity, morphological abnormality, malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant activities: superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of cooled diluted samples were evaluated. Addition of 1 μg/ml of ZnO‐NPs increased sperm viability under normal conditions (p < .05). Extender supplementation with 1 μg/ml of ZnO‐NPs improved sperm total motility, viability, DNA and membrane integrity during storage periods (p < .05). Moreover, using 1 μg/ml of ZnO‐NPs improved (p < .05) MDA, TAC and SOD activities after 72 hr compared to other treatments. In conclusion, there were some beneficial effects of ZnO‐NPs supplementation in ram epididymal sperm extender during oxidative stress conditions and cooled storage.

Improving Awassi Rams Epididymal Sperms Viability by Adding Zinc and Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles

“…Another study refers to action of zinc oxide in low dose made positive results on ram epididymal sperms after storage in cooled way, these result disagreement with present study and this may be due to that low dose zinc oxide NPS improve sperm quality and also for different source of nanoparticles [26].…”

“…Many reports refers to using Zinc oxide NPs to improved semen characteristics and reproductive performance in Ram [9], buffalo [10], camel [11], human [12], rabbit [ 13] and rooster [14], also these reports mention the positive effect of Zinc oxide NPs and improving sperms quality during storage by keep plasma membrane integrity, mitochondrial function, improved sperm progressive motility, viability, maintained ultrastructure morphology, decrease apoptosis and increase sperm count [15], but its effect was dose-depended according in different papers. There were a few reports explain exposure of Cerium Oxide (CeO 2 NPs) on Awassi epididymal sperms characteristics, Falachi et al, [16] reveled CeO 2 NPs beneficial effects on kinematic and morphologic parameters on ram semen after 96 hrs of storage at 4C 0 .…”

A review on applications and toxicities of metallic nanoparticles in mammalian semen biology

“…It was also observed that the mixture of ZnO and TiO 2 NPs induced more sperm abnormalities than either of them (Ogunsuyi et al, 2020). In a recent study on ram epididymal spermatozoa, it was observed that there were some beneficial effects (increased sperm total motility, viability, DNA and membrane integrity, TAC and SOD with reduced lipid per‐oxidation) of ZnO NPs supplementation in sperm extender during oxidative stress conditions and cooled storage (Soltani et al, 2022). It is evident that the studies on effects of ZnO NPs on male germ cells are still scarce and need further validation at in vitro and in vivo levels.…”

Effect of zinc supplementation on the quality of cooled, stored equine sperm

“…Among other functions, Zn plays a vital role in regulating redox homeostasis (Atrian and Capdevila 2013), which is crucial for sperm survival, particularly for the stallion (Gibb and Aitken 2016;Pena ˜ et al 2022). Previous research on the effects of Zn supplementation in equine semen extenders is limited (Ghallab et al 2017), but a protective role of Zn in sperm samples has been described in species such as roosters (Khodaei-Motlagh et al 2022), bulls (Gualtieri et al 2014), humans (Isaac et al 2017), ram (Soltani et al 2022), and dog (Fayez et al 2023) among others.…”