4 ROS scavengers such as LC and PF may affect sperm metabolism,12 motility,33,34 and membrane.17,20 Our results showed that the LC administration led to a significant rise in the number of the Selleckchem PD0325901 sperms with intact acrosomes as demonstrated by PNA reaction. LC caused a significant increase in the number of the non-capacitated sperms after 30 minutes of incubation as Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical indicated by WGA reaction. As the time progressed, LC effected an increase in the number of the sperms with intact acrosomes, but no change
in the number of the non-capacitated sperms was observed; this showed that the administration of LC inhibited the early capacitation of the sperms as indicated by WGA reaction. The in vivo administration of LC, as an antioxidant, can affect sperm maturation and motility,35 and stabilize the sperm cell membrane.17 The Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in vitro administration of LC diminishes acrosomal reaction,18 and thus increases
the number of intact sperms, which chimes in with our results. LC is also thought to protect the sperm plasma membrane and affect carbohydrate metabolism.18 PF acts as an anti-oxidant,19 and can protect the fresh sperm plasma membrane,20 normal frozen-thawed sperm,21 and oligoasthenozoospermic patients.22 The protective effect of PF on the acrosome loss was also reported by Esteves et al.21 Our results also showed that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical PF did not impact on the incidence of capacitated or acrosome-reacted sperms. Review articles have revealed a controversy vis-à-vis the effects of PF on the induction of sperm capacitation and acrosomal reaction. Some authors have reported that PF treatment can induce capacitation in human,36 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and hamster.37 Mirshekari et al.38 showed no changes in the number of the capacitated canine sperm by a low dose of PF administration;38 our data confirm this finding. Although both LC and PF increase sperm motility, it seems that LC prevents early Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical capacitation and acrosome loss more effectively than PF. Our data showed that LC prevented early capacitation (as indicated Urease by WGA reaction) and subsequently inhibited
acrosome reaction (as indicated by PNA and Con A reaction). Our previous work demonstrated that LC administration also improved nuclear maturation criteria more effectively than PF.39 Conclusion PNA- and WGA-positive sperms indicated the intact and non-capacitated sperm populations, respectively, in the present study. Whereas supplementation of the testicular sperm samples with both LC and PF enhanced sperm motility, LC was more efficient in the inhibition of sperm capacitation and acrosomal reaction as indicated by the enhancement in the percentages of WGA- and PNA-positive cells. Our results showed that LC was more suitable than PF for utilization in the ART protocol for increasing sperm integrity.