The effects of different concentrations of glycine and cysteine on the freezability of moghani ram spermatozoa

Abstract

Two experiments were designed to evaluate the effects of the amino acids glycine and cysteine on cryopreservation of ram spermatozoa. After primary evaluation of collected ejaculates, the semen samples were pooled and diluted 1:4 before cooling (experiment 1) and freezing (experiment 2) with Tris-Citrate-Fructose-Yolk (TCFY) extender supplemented with different concentrations of glycine and cysteine (5, 10, 15 and 20 mM). As the control, semen was diluted and frozen in the extender without amino acids. Motility, viability and membrane integrity were assessed as the parameters for semen quality in the first experiment. In the second experiment, motility, progressive motility, viability, membranes and acrosome integrity were evaluated after the freezing-thawing process. The results of the first experiment indicated that the addition of 10 and 15 mM cysteine compared to the control (basic) extender significantly increased (p<0.01) the motility, viability and membrane integrity of spermatozoa after cooling. However, further increasing these amino acids up to 20 mM had a significant negative effect (p<0.05). Our results showed no significant differences (p>0.05) between 5 mM glycine compared to 5 mM cysteine and between 20 mM glycine and 20 mM cysteine. The results of experiment 2 showed that the amino acids significantly improved post-thaw motility, progressive motility, viability, membranes and acrosome integrity of ram spermatozoa. These positive effects were observed at concentrations between 5 to 15 mM of glycine and cysteine, with the best results at 15 mM. Further increasing of amino acid concentrations significantly decreased the post-thaw characteristics of spermatozoa, but the results showed that cysteine was better than glycine and control extenders. The data indicated that addition of glycine or cysteine to the freezing extender can be recommended for cryopreservation of ram spermatozoa. However, further studies are still needed to determine the effect of such addition on fertility in farm animals.