Effects of Curcumin on Sperm Motility, Viability, Mitochondrial Activity and Plasma Membrane Integrity in Boar Semen

초록

Curcumin is known as a natural antioxidant, decreasing oxidative stress in animal cells. Generally, oxidative stress induces reactive oxygen species in sperm and leads to decreased sperm characteristics in pigs. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of curcumin on sperm motility, viability, mitochondrial activity and plasma membrane integrity in pigs. Curcumin (0, 5 and 10 μM) was treated in boar semen, which were incubated for 9 hours in 37℃. Then, motility, viability, mitochondrial activity, plasma membrane integrity of sperm was analyzed every 3 hours. In the results, sperm motility was significantly increased by 5 μM curcumin after 3 and 9 hours after incubation, and viability was significantly higher in 5 μM curcumin treatment at 3 hours (P<0.05). Similarly, sperm mitochondrial activity and plasma membrane integrity were significantly increased by 5 μM curcumin at 3, 6 and 9 hours after incubation (P<0.05). There results suggest that curcumin improve sperm characteristics such as motility, viability, mitochondrial activity, and plasma membrane integrity, and may exert a positive effect on sperm fertility in pigs.

키워드