title: Supplementing cryopreservation media with reduced glutathione increases fertility and prolificacy of sows inseminated with frozen-thawed boar semen.
abstract: The main aim of this work was to evaluate how supplementing freezing media with reduced glutathione (GSH) affected the 'in vivo' fertilizing ability of boar semen subjected to cryopreservation procedures. With this purpose, 12 ejaculates coming from 12 boars were cryopreserved in the presence or absence of 2 mm GSH, whereas the same number of extended ejaculates coming from the same boars was used as negative/farm controls. Eight different sperm parameters (levels of free-cysteine residues in sperm nucleoproteins, DNA fragmentation, sperm viability, acrosome-membrane integrity, intracellular peroxide and superoxide levels, and total and progressive sperm motility) were evaluated before freezing and after 30 and 240 min of thawing. In addition, a total of 180 multiparous sows were used in the field fertility trials, the females being randomly divided into three groups and inseminated with extended, frozen-thawed control or frozen-thawed semen supplemented with 2 mm GSH. The presence of GSH in the freezing media significantly (p < 0.05) increased farrowing rates and the number of total born piglets and alive born piglets, and partially counteracted the cryopreservation-induced damages inflicted on frozen-thawed spermatozoa. We can thus conclude that supplementing freezing media with 2 mm GSH greatly improves boar sperm cryopreservation technology, as it significantly improves the fertilizing ability of frozen-thawed spermatozoa.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Animal Reproduction, Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estrada
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Gil
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Balasch
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bonet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yeste
mesh_terms: D000177:Acrosome / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000662:veterinary*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007315:Insemination, Artificial / Q000662:veterinary; D008098:Litter Size / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D012661:Semen / Q000166:cytology; D012662:Semen Preservation / Q000662:veterinary*; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology; D013481:Superoxides; D034421:Sus scrofa
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D013481:Superoxides; D005978:Glutathione
keywords: AI; boar sperm; cryopreservation; fertility; nucleoprotein structure; prolificacy; reduced glutathione