Effects of pre‐freezeNigella sativaoil supplementation on cryosurvival of ovine spermatozoa

Abstract

Contents The study was designed with three experiments to evaluate the effects of pre‐freeze supplementation of Nigella sativa oil (NSO) and thymoquinone (TQ) on total motility, progressive motility, biokinetic characteristics, acrosomal integrity and DNA integrity of cryopreserved ovine spermatozoa. Semen samples collected from three proven fertile Merino rams were diluted with a Tris‐based cryomedia containing different levels of NSO (Experiment I: 0, 10, 100 and 1,000 g/ml), TQ (Experiment II: 0, 1, 10 and 20 g/ml) and their optimum levels (Experiment III: 100 g/ml of NSO, 10 g/ml of TQ and 1 mM of α‐tocopherol and cryopreserved as pellet (200µL) and subsequently evaluated at different post‐thaw incubation periods (0, 2 and 4 hr). The results revealed that the percentage of total motility, progressive motility and biokinetic characteristics such as average path velocity, curvilinear velocity and straight‐line velocity were higher (p < 0.05) in the sperm aliquots cryopreserved with 100 g/ml NSO or 10 g/ml TQ than in the sperm aliquots cryopreserved without supplementation just after thawing and 2 hr of post‐thaw incubation. Among the supplements, NSO (100 g/ml) showed higher values of the total motility, progressive motility, biokinetic characteristics specially, average path velocity, curvilinear velocity and straight‐line velocity, acrosome integrity and DNA integrity compared with the spermatozoa frozen without supplementation. Therefore, the results suggest that NSO may be added to the cryomedium to improve the cryosurvival of ovine spermatozoa.

Effects of Gossypium spp., Balanites aegyptiaca, and Sesamum indicum seeds oils on quality of chilled and frozen-thawed ram semen

“…According to their origin, there are two types of antioxidants: Those produced synthetically, which have been used since 1995, and those formed naturally, antioxidants contained in vegetable oils, used recently to preserve better sperm quality. Many scientific reports have analyzed the effects of vegetable oils on semen quality, either as an animal diet supplementation [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] or as a cryoprotectant substance in sperm extenders [20][21][22][23][24][25][41][42][43][44].…”

“…It is, therefore, essential to find safer sperm-freezing alternatives. Recently, studies have focused on testing alternative extenders free of animal substances, such as soybean lecithin [4,5,6,[13][14][15][16][17] or extenders supplemented with polyunsaturated fatty acids [18,19] or with vegetable oils, such as argan oil, olive oil, Rosmarinus officinalis oil, Nigella sativa oil, and Origanum vulgare oil [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] to preserve animal sperm. Other vegetables such as Gossypium spp., Balanites aegyptiaca, and Sesamum indicum, available widely in Africa, including Niger, also contain lecithin protein and unsaturated fatty acids [27][28][29], but have not yet been tested for sperm cryopreservation.…”

Plant Extracts as Alternative Additives for Sperm Preservation

“…Seminal doses from goat [ 83 ] and ram [ 84 ] were treated with this plant. In goat, this extract was tested both in fresh and cryopreserved semen at a concentration of 0.5%.…”

Therapeutic perspective of thymoquinone: A mechanistic treatise

“…Moreover, morphine at the rate of 20 mg/kg applied to the experimental male mice caused momentous reductions in testis weight, germinal thickness, count, testosterone level, viability, morphology, and motility of sperm and enhancement in nitric oxide. On other side, different doses of thymoquinone (2, 10, and 20 mg/kg) and thymoquinone (2, 10, and 20 mg/kg) in combination with morphine (20 mg/kg) lowered the nitric oxide level, enhanced the motility (total motility and progressive motility), germinal thickness, morphology, count, viability of sperm cells, and testosterone hormone (Miah et al., 2018; Salahshoor et al., 2018). It also improved the sperm fertility rate and prevented anomalies.…”