BENEFICIALL EFFECT OF THE EUROPEAN RASPBERRY (RUBUS IADEUS) EXTRACT ON THE ACTIVITY AND OXIDATIVE PROFILE OF BOVINE SPERMATOZOA

Abstract

Berries belong to the best dietary sources of bioactive compounds. These fruits contains bioactive compounds such as antioxidants (phenolic compounds and fruit colorants), vitamins (ascorbic acids) and minerals. This study aimed to estimate the effect of three concentrations (75 µg/mL, 150 µg/mL and 300 µg/mL) of the European raspberry (Rubus iadeus) on the selected quality parameters of bovine spermatozoa after 0h, 2h, and 24h of in vitro culture. Sperm motility was evaluated using the Computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) system. The mitochondrial activity was detected by the metabolic (MTT) assay. The determination of ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) quantity was observed through the luminol method. The protein and lipid oxidation were evaluated using spectrophotometric assays. The experiment showed that the highest applied concentration of European raspberry extract at 2h (p<0.05) and all concentration after 24h (p<0.05; p<0.001) exhibited motility-promoting effects. We observed the highest increase of mitochondrial activity using 300 µg/mL by 2h (p<0.05) and using 150 µg/mL (p<0.05) and 300 µg/mL (p<0.01) after 24h. Exposure to this extract led to decreasing levels of ROS generation at 2h of incubation (p<0.05) with the highest dose as well as after 24h using 150 µg/mL (p<0.01) and 300 µg/mL (p<0.001) applied doses. The protein oxidation levels showed decreasing rates at 2h (p<0.05; 300 µg/mL) and at time of 24h (p<0.01; 150 µg/mL and p<0.001; 300 µg/mL). All selected raspberry concentration prevented oxidative degeneration of lipids during 2h (p<0.05) and after 24h (p<0.05; p<0.001). Our results indicate, that European raspberry extract has beneficial effect on the measured parameters of the bovine spermatozoa during in vitro incubation but depending on time and applied dose.