Melatonin Improves the Fertilization Capacity of Sex-Sorted Bull Sperm by Inhibiting Apoptosis and Increasing Fertilization Capacitation via MT1

oleh: Chong-Yang Li, Hai-Sheng Hao, Ya-Han Zhao, Pei-Pei Zhang, Hao-Yu Wang, Yun-Wei Pang, Wei-Hua Du, Shan-Jiang Zhao, Yan Liu, Jin-Ming Huang, Jing-Jing Wang, Wei-Min Ruan, Tong Hao, Russel J. Reiter, Hua-Bin Zhu, Xue-Ming Zhao

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2019-08-01

Deskripsi

Little information is available regarding the effect of melatonin on the quality and fertilization capability of sex-sorted bull sperm, and even less about the associated mechanism. Sex-sorted sperm from three individual bulls were washed twice in wash medium and incubated in a fertilization medium for 1.5 h, and each was supplemented with melatonin (0, 10<sup>&#8722;3</sup> M, 10<sup>&#8722;5</sup> M, 10<sup>&#8722;7</sup> M, and 10<sup>&#8722;9</sup> M). The reactive oxygen species (ROS) and endogenous antioxidant activity (glutathione peroxidase (GPx); superoxide dismutase (SOD); catalase (CAT)), apoptosis (phosphatidylserine [PS] externalization; mitochondrial membrane potential (&#916;&#968;m)), acrosomal integrity events (malondialdehyde (MDA) level; acrosomal integrity), capacitation (calcium ion [Ca<sup>2+</sup>]<sub>i</sub> level; cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP); capacitation level), and fertilization ability of the sperm were assessed. Melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) and 2 (MT2) expression were examined to investigate the involvement of melatonin receptors on sex-sorted bull sperm capacitation. Our results show that treatment with 10<sup>&#8722;5</sup> M melatonin significantly decreased the ROS level and increased the GPx, SOD, and CAT activities of sex-sorted bull sperm, which inhibited PS externalization and MDA levels, and improved &#916;&#968;m, acrosomal integrity, and fertilization ability. Further experiments showed that melatonin regulates sperm capacitation via MT1. These findings contribute to improving the fertilization capacity of sex-sorted bull sperm and exploring the associated mechanism.