Chicken spermatozoa are highly susceptible to cryopreservation often requiring extenders containing additives to enhance their post-thaw quality. Although protective properties of fetal bovine serum (FBS) during freezing of tissue cultured cells are widely known, its potential as a cryoprotectant for sperm cells has not been largely explored. Thus, the aims of our study were to (i) investigate the protective effect of FBS at different concentrations (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%) against cryodamages in chicken spermatozoa, and (ii) test the FBS concentration that yielded the best preservation versus 1 mg/mL of cholesterol-loaded cyclodextrins (CLCs). Samples were assessed before and after freezing for sperm motility parameters, plasma membrane and acrosomal integrities, mitochondrial membrane potential, oxidative stress and plasma membrane peroxidation. Our findings showed that, despite their beneficial effects on fresh spermatozoa, higher FBS concentrations (15 and 20%) obtained the worst results for most motility and functional parameters after thawing. In contrast, lower FBS concentrations (5 and 10%) improved all post-thaw variables when compared to control. Afterwards, based on regression analysis, the concentration of 7% FBS was chosen to be assessed against CLCs in an experiment composed by four groups: control, FBS, CLCs, and FBS + CLCs. FBS and FBS + CLCs groups exhibited higher progressive motility in fresh samples, whereas only FBS maintained higher post-thaw progressive motility. Additionally, the incorporation FBS into extenders increased the percentage of rapid cells and reduced free radicals production and plasma membrane peroxidation. Together, these outcomes indicated that FBS minimize some harmful effects of cryopreservation, providing an alternative for chicken semen extenders that in many aspects appears to be superior to CLCs at 1 mg/mL.
Keywords: Birds; Poultry; Reproductive technologies; Semen analysis; Sperm freezing.
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