Effect of Rooibos (&-lt;i&-gt;Aspalathus linearis&-lt;/i&-gt;) Extract on Boar Sperm Samples Submitted to Oxidative Stress

Bc. Nicole Sjahrirová

Diplomová práce

Abstract:

Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) is a small bush, growing in South Africa. This plant is known especially as rooibos tea which has become popular in the last decades. Rooibos contains numerous substances beneficial to the organism, for instance, antioxidants, comprising flavonoids and phenolic acids. Many studies used rooibos in vivo to test its antioxidant effect in different cell lines. In this study, we used rooibos extract in vitro in boar spermatozoa submitted to oxidative stress. Sperm samples were incubated in a water bath at 38 °C with a reactive oxygen species (ROS) generating system (Fe2+/ascorbate) and supplemented with three concentrations (0.017% m/v, 0.006% m/v and 0.002% m/v) of fermented and unfermented rooibos extracts. The effects of rooibos extracts on sperm motility, membrane integrity, acrosomal status and lipid peroxidation were evaluated at 3.5 h of sperm incubation. Our results indicated that treatments with rooibos extract showed lower MDA levels than those of control - ox group (p < 0.05). The lowest MDA levels were found mainly in the treatments with unfermented rooibos. The extract of Aspalathus linearis significantly improved also sperm membrane integrity (p < 0.05) and even though significant differences were not found in motility, acrosome integrity and tail membrane integrity, some concentrations (especially the lower ones) have a higher average than the control - ox group. The highest concentrations may have been scavenging higher amounts of ROS, even those that are necessary for the correct sperm functionality. The results of this study provide new insights into the application of rooibos in vitro against the negative effects of oxidative stress in boar spermatozoa.

Keywords

boar, lipid peroxidation, oxidative stress, rooibos, sperm kinetics, sperm membrane, acrosome

Jazyk práce: angličtina

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 10. 4. 2019

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedoucí: Jose Luis Ros-Santaella, Ph.D.

Česká zemědělská univerzita v Praze

Fakulta agrobiologie, potravinových a přírodních zdrojů

Magisterský studijní program / obor:
Biotechnologie / Reprodukční biotechnologie