Animal Reproduction Science 172 (2016) 1020

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Animal Reproduction Science

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w.e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a n i r e p r o s c i

Curcumin has protective and antioxidant properties on bull

spermatozoa subjected to induced oxidative stress
Eva Tvrd a, , Eva Tusimov b , Anton Kovcik a , Dusan Pal c , Hana
Greifov a , Abzal Abdramanov d , Norbert Lukc a
a

Department of Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2,
94976 Nitra, Slovakia
b
AgroBioTech Research Centre, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 94976 Nitra, Slovakia
c
Department of Botany and Genetics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Nbrezie mldeze 91,
94974 Nitra, Slovakia
d
Department of Veterinary Sanitary Examination and Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Kazakh National Agrarian University, Abai
street 8, 050010 Almaty city, Kazakhstan

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 31 March 2016
Received in revised form 19 June 2016
Accepted 20 June 2016
Available online 21 June 2016

Over the past decades, there has been an emphasis on assessment of the use of natural
compounds in the prevention or repair of oxidative injury to spermatozoa. Curcumin
(CUR) is a natural phenol with powerful antioxidant properties. The aim of the present
study was to examine if CUR could reverse reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated
alterations to the motility, viability and intracellular antioxidant prole of bull
spermatozoa subjected to a prooxidant (i.e., ferrous ascorbate FeAA). Spermatozoa
were washed from recently collected semen samples, suspended in 2.9% sodium citrate
and subjected to CUR treat- ment (5, 10, 25 and 50 mol/L) in the presence or absence of
FeAA (150 mol/L FeSO4 and
750
mol/L ascorbic acid) during a 6 h in vitro culture. Spermatozoa motility
characteristics were assessed using the SpermVision computer-aided spermatozoa analysis (CASA)
system. Cell viability was examined with the metabolic activity (MTT) assay, ROS generation was quantied using luminometry and the nitroblue-tetrazolium (NBT) test was
used to quantify the intracellular superoxide formation. Cell lysates were prepared at
the end of the culture to assess the intracellular activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD),
catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx)
as well as the concentrations of
glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA). Treatment with FeAA led to a reduced
spermatozoa motility (P < 0.001), viability (P < 0.001) and decreased the antioxidant
characteristics of the samples (P < 0.001) but increased the ROS generation (P < 0.001),
superoxide production (P < 0.001) and lipid peroxidation (P < 0.001). The CUR treatment
led to a preservation of spermato- zoa motion (P < 0.001), mitochondrial activity (P <
0.001) and antioxidant characteristics (P < 0.05 with SOD and GSH; P < 0.01 with CAT and
GPx), revealing the concentration range of 2550 mol/L CUR to be the most effective for
sustaining spermatozoa viability. Data from the present study suggest that CUR exhibits
signicant protective and ROS-scavenging characteristics which may prevent oxidative
insults to spermatozoa and thus preserve the functional activity of male gametes.
2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Curcumin
Oxidative stress
Antioxidants
Ferrous ascorbate
Bulls
Spermatozoa

Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: evina.tvrda@gmail.com,
Tvrd).

eva.tvrda@uniag.sk

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2016.06.008
0378-4320/ 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

(E.

1. Introduction
Oxidative stress (OS) resulting from an imbalance
between reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and