IN VITRO ASSESSMENT OF OCTYLPHENOL IMPACT ON SPERMATOZOA MOTILE PARAMETERS

Abstract

In this study we examined the effect of various concentrations of octylphenol (OP; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) (1, 10, 100 and 200 μg/mL) dissolved in 1% ethanol (Sigma-Aldrich, Bratislava, Slovak Republic) on the motile parameters of bovine spermatozoa during cultivation times 0 h, 2 h, 4 h and 6 h. The control spermatozoa (Ctrl) group was cultured with physiological saline solution (sodium chloride 0.9% w/v, Bieffe Medital, Italy). The motility analysis was carried out using a CASA (Computer Assisted Semen Analyzer) system – SpermVisionTM program (MiniTűb, Tiefenbach, Germany) with the Olympus BX 51 microscope (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). The following parameters were evaluated: percentage of motile spermatozoa (motility > 5 µm/s), percentage of progressive motile spermatozoa (motility > 20 µm/s), distance average path (DAP; μm) and velocity average path (VAP; μm/s). Data were statistically analyzed using program GraphPad Prism 3.02 (GraphPad Software Incorporated, San Diego, California, USA). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Dunnett´s multiple comparison test were used for statistical evaluations. The control group (medium without OP) was compared to the experimental groups (exposed to different concentrations of OP). Significant differences (P<0.001 and P<0.05) between the control group and experimental groups were recorded. Obtained data from our study showed a decreased spermatozoa motility and progressive motility in all experimental groups with the addition of OP in comparison to the control group during all time periods. The evaluation of OP influence on the motile parameters DAP and VAP indicated a significant decrease and increase in experimental groups with 1, 10 and 200 μg/mL of OP. In conclusion, our results confirm that octylphenol have the detrimental effect on the rated parameters of spermatozoa motility during short-term cultivation.