Non-thermal plasma treatment improves chicken sperm motility via the regulation of demethylation levels

Abstract

The quality of avian semen is an important economic trait in poultry production. The present study examines the in vitro effects of non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge plasma on chicken sperm to determine the plasma conditions that can produce the optimum sperm quality. Exposure to 11.7 kV of plasma for 20 s is found to produce maximum sperm motility by controlling the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species and boosting the release of adenosine triphosphate and respiratory enzyme activity in the mitochondria. However, prolonged exposure or further increase in plasma potential impairs the sperm quality in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Optimal plasma treatment of sperm results in upregulated mRNA and protein expression of antioxidant defense-related and energetic metabolism-related genes by increasing their demethylation levels. However, 27.6 kV of plasma exerts significant adverse effects. Thus, our findings indicate that appropriate plasma exposure conditions improve chicken sperm motility by regulating demethylation levels of genes involved in antioxidant defense and energetic metabolism.

Prospective Applications of Cold Plasma for Processing Poultry Products: Benefits, Effects on Quality Attributes, and Limitations

“…Recent studies have proposed cold plasma as a tool to enhance the production yield in chicken farms, through vaccine production, growth and reproduction enhancement (Wang; et al., ; Zhang et al., ; Zhang, Do, et al., ; Zhang, Huynh, et al., ; Zhang, Wang, et al., ), and to assure the safety of the poultry products (Aly, ; Apostol et al., ; Dirks et al., ; Georgescu et al., ; Lee et al., 2011, , ; Ragni et al., ; Rossow et al., ; Wang et al., ; Yong et al., ; Figure ). This wide range of potential application is because of the presence of reactive species and photons and the consequent chemical reactions that these components may induce in the treated product.…”

“…Recently, the findings of many studies imply that nonthermal plasma technology can be considered a profitable tool in agri‐food industries such as the poultry industry. Researchers around the world showed that this emerging technology can be used for enhancing the microbiological safety of various products (Aly, ; Apostol, Georgescu, Vatuiu, & Gaceu, ; Dirks et al., ; Georgescu, Nicolae, Apostol, & Gherendi, ; Lee et al., , , ; Ragni et al., ; Rossow, Ludewig, & Braun, ; Wang, Zhuang, Lawrence, & Zhang., ; Yong et al., ) and increasing the production rates in the farm (Wang et al., ; Zhang et al., ; Zhang, Do, et al., ; Zhang, Huynh, et al., ; Zhang, Wang, et al., ).…”

Plasma Farming: Non-Thermal Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Technology for Improving the Growth of Soybean Sprouts and Chickens

“…Low and physiological concentrations of ROS stimulate sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction to ensure fertilization [89,93], but high concentrations of ROS lead to sperm DNA damage, impaired acrosome integrity, and decreased motility, viability, and fertilization capacity [92,94,95]. Zhang et al [21] reported that the appropriate treatment condition of non-thermal DBD plasma increased the chicken sperm motility in vitro by controlling the ROS balance and increasing the ATP level and respiratory enzyme activity in the mitochondria; this resulted from the regulation of the demethylation levels of genes involved in antioxidant defense and energetic metabolism [21]. Sperm DNA methylation levels are associated with sperm motility, but not with sperm viability or morphology [96].…”

“…Our laboratory has already developed a non-thermal DBD plasma treatment system at an atmospheric pressure to generate electrically safe plasma [17][18][19][20][21][22]. In brief, the DBD plasma reactor consists of upper and lower disk-shaped electrodes with a diameter of 140 mm and a dielectric barrier with a thickness of 5 mm.…”

“…The detailed physical properties of non-thermal DBD plasma are shown in the study of Zhang et al [20]. The detailed experimental procedures of the DBD plasma technique applied on soybean seeds [17], chicken embryos [18][19][20], chicken spermatozoa [21], and chicken Sertoli cells [22] have already been described in detail. DBD plasma technique without substantial gas heating has a variety of advantages in the promotion of plant growth [23], biomedical applications in the treatment of bacteria sterilization, wound-healing, blood coagulation, dental treatment, and cancer treatment, and enhancements in the cell transfection efficiency, cell proliferation and differentiation, and tissue regeneration [24].…”