VISCUM ALBUM PINI EFFECT ON RABBIT SPERMATOZOA MOTILITY, VIABILITY, MEMBRANE AND ACROSOME INTEGRITY IN VITRO

Abstract

Mistletoe (Viscum album L.) was previously described as an effective additive in the therapy of patients with cancer after medical therapy of the primary neoplasia. The defence activity and also direct cytotoxic stimulation was found to be upstanding for the anti-carcinogenic action. The main target of this study was to detect the effect of Viscum album pini L. at various concentration 1.0 (PA); 0.66 (PB); 0.33 (PC); 0.1 (PD); 0.066 (PE) and 0.033 (PF) mg/mL on the fine rabbit spermatozoa motility parameters at various time periods (0; 1; 2 and 3 h) during the cultivation in vitro. The CASA methodology was applied to estimate the spermatozoa motility parameters. The spermatozoa motility at the beginning of the experiment (Time 0) found decreased rate for examined doses of Viscum album pini compared to the control, but the statistical significant reduction was observed (p<0.01) only in the sample PD compared to groups PK (control). After 3 hours of in vitro cultivation interesting but not significant tendency of spermatozoa motility increase was found. Only in the group with the highest concentration (PA) a non-significant decrease was detected. Also, other parameters confirm this finding. After 3 hours of incubation, viability of rabbit spermatozoa showed decreased values in all doses of Viscum album pini in comparison to the control group. A significant decrease (p<0.01) of membrane integrity was found in group PA compared to control group. Also, in groups PB, PC, PD lower values in comparison to control group were detected. Acrosomal integrity showed very similar tendency in all groups. Our results detected any dose and/or time dependent significant effect of Viscum album pini on rabbit spermatozoa motility and viability in vitro. Positive impact on motility parameters after cultivation of rabbit semen with Viscum album pini was not found, but indications of changes on membrane integrity were observed.