Royal jelly may improve sperm characteristics during preservation of rooster semen: Gene expression of antioxidant enzymes

Abstract

Sustainable production and the increasing number of embryonated hatching eggs are critical aspects of the poultry production industry. The present paper aims to appraise the effectiveness of royal jelly (RJ) on the semen characteristics of Native Mazandaran roosters in both liquid and frozen storage conditions. Semen collected from 10 sexually mature roosters and following dilution was supplemented with RJ at 0.0 (control), 5 (RJ5), 10 (RJ10), 20 (RJ20) and 40 (RJ 40) mg/ml. After cooling and freezing‐thawing, the percentage of forward progressive motility, viability, abnormality, hypo‐osmotic swelling test (HOST) and the mRNA abundance of antioxidant enzymes of spermatozoa were measured. Our results revealed that the addition of 5 mg/ml RJ to the semen extender significantly increased (p < .05) the percentages of forward progressive motility, viability and HOST during liquid and frozen storage. The abnormality of spermatozoa in the RJ5 group was significantly lower compared to the other groups. During liquid storage, a significant decrease in forward progressive motility was found after 48 hr in comparison with 24 hr at 4°C. High levels of RJ (from 10 to 40 mg/ml) were severely decreased the characteristics of rooster spermatozoa in comparison with RJ5 and the control group. The inclusion of RJ at 5 mg/ml to the semen extender enhanced the mRNA transcript of antioxidant enzymes of spermatozoa during liquid preservation. The mRNA abundance of antioxidant enzymes did not influence by cryostorage. Overall, these data suggest that supplementation of RJ at 5 mg/ml to the extender improved semen characteristics and redox status of rooster spermatozoa.

Molecular Cloning and Functional Characterization of Catalase in Stress Physiology, Innate Immunity, Testicular Development, Metamorphosis, and Cryopreserved Sperm of Pacific Abalone

“…The present study found that cryopreserved sperm had significantly lower Hdh-CAT mRNA abundance than fresh sperm. Similar findings have been previously reported for cryopreserved rooster sperm [35]. Results of the present study suggest that Hdh-CAT might be considered as a biomarker of cryopreserved sperm of Pacific abalone.…”

“…Cryopreservation of sperm is responsible for excessive ROS generation that causes an imbalance of the natural antioxidant defense system of sperm [35]. CAT activity and mRNA abundance have been found to be antioxidant indicators of cryopreserved sperm and ovary [35,36].…”

The influence of various rates of royal jelly enriched extenders on frozen/thawed sperm quality and fertility in goats

“…In our study results were similar. It was shown that high levels of RJ addition to the extender have importantly diminished the rooster sperm quality compared to low levels of RJ and the control groups (Hadavand Mirzaei et al, 2021). Alcay et al (2019) stated that high RJ addition decreased spermatozoa motility while low concentrations of RJ (1 and 2%) increased motility and membrane integrity during semen cryopreservation in honey bees.…”

Transcriptome analysis reveals the genes involved in spermatogenesis in white feather broilers

“…The semen quality of breeding cocks, such as semen volume, sperm viability and sperm malformation rate, is an important index for measuring their reproductive performance. Semen volume and sperm viability directly affect the fertilization rate, and the sperm malformation rate directly affects the healthy chick rate and hatching rate ( Hadav and Mirzaei et al, 2021 ; Bowling et al, 2003 ). Among them, semen volume refers to the volume of semen produced by a male individual during another ejaculation.…”