Qualitative and flow cytometric evaluations of goat’s frozen semen in Mito-TEMPO supplemented plant-based extender

BACKGROUND: Cryopreservation of buck spermatozoa is an efficient strategy to improve qualified sperm cells for artificial insemination; however, this process potentially decreases the qualitative characteristics of post-thawed sperm. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the influence of the mitochondria-targeted antioxidant "Mito-TEMPO" on buck sperm quality during the cryopreservation process in a plant-based extender. RESULTS: This study indicated that the dosages 10 and 100 µM Mito-TEMPO presented higher (P ≤ 0.05) percentages of total motility, progressive motility, membrane integrity, mitochondrial activity, acrosome integrity, and viability while showing lower (P ≤ 0.05) late apoptosis, DNA fragmentation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentration, and lipid peroxidation compared to the control group. Different treatments of Mito-TEMPO indicated no effect (P > 0.05) on sperm cells with abnormal morphology. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that this mitochondria-targeted antioxidant may be able to preserve the qualitative parameters in the post-thawed buck spermatozoa.