Dietary flaxseed oil and vitamin E improve semen quality via propionic acid metabolism

Abstract

IntroductionFlaxseed oil (FO) and vitamin E (VE) both have antioxidant effects on sperm. The present study investigated the effects of dietary supplementation with FO and/or VE on semen quality.Methods16 fertile Simmental bulls were selected and randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 4): the control group (control diet), FO group (control diet containing 24 g/kg FO), VE group (control diet containing 150 mg/kg VE) and FOVE group (control diet containing 150 mg/kg VE and 24 g/kg FO), and the trial lasted 10 weeks.ResultsThe results showed that the addition of FO independently can increase sperm motion parameters, the levels of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2), while reduce oxidative stress in seminal plasma (P < 0.05). Supplement of VE independently can increased the motility, motility parameters, CAT and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels, and reduce oxidative stress in seminal plasma (P < 0.05). There was an interaction effect of FO × VE on motility and reactive oxygen species (ROS), while GSH-Px and ROS were affected by week × VE 2-way interaction, levels of T and E2 were also affected by the dietary FO × week interaction (P < 0.05). The triple interaction effects of FO, VE and week were significant for malondialdehyde (MDA) (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, sperm from the FOVE group had a significantly higher in vitro fertilization (IVF) rate, and subsequent embryos had increased developmental ability with reduced ROS levels at the eight-cell stage, then increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content and gene expression levels of CAT, CDX2, Nanog, and SOD at the blastocyst stage (P < 0.05). Metabolomic and transcriptomic results indicated that dietary supplementation of FO and VE increased the expression of the metabolite aconitic acid, as well as the expression of ABAT and AHDHA genes.ConclusionWith in-silico analysis, it can be concluded that the effects of dietary FO and VE on improving semen quality and embryo development may be related to increased aconitic acid via the ABAT and AHDHA genes involved in the propionic acid metabolism pathway.

Effects of flaxseed oil supplementation on metaphase II oocyte rates in IVF cycles with decreased ovarian reserve: a randomized controlled trial

“…This is consistent with the direction of data in mice that higher dietary omega-3 fatty acids can increase reproductive lifespan ( 27 , 28 ). In addition, it was reported that the combination of flaxseed oil and vitamin E increased semen quality and sperm motility, prevented sperm lipid peroxidation, and increased blastocyst rate ( 29 ). Although our study did not pay attention to the effect of flaxseed oil on sperm, our results demonstrated the beneficial effects of flaxseed oil on reproduction and were not limited to a single gender.…”