AUTHOR=Barranco Isabel , Padilla Lorena , Pérez-Patiño Cristina , Vazquez Juan M. , Martínez Emilio A. , Rodríguez-Martínez Heriberto , Roca Jordi , Parrilla Inmaculada 

TITLE=Seminal Plasma Cytokines Are Predictive of the Outcome of Boar Sperm Preservation

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2019.00436

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2019.00436

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Boar seminal plasma is rich in cytokines, which could influence the capability of spermatozoa to tolerate preservation.</p><p><bold>Objectives:</bold> To evaluate the involvement of boar seminal plasma cytokines in the changes experienced by boar spermatozoa during their storage, either in liquid or frozen state.</p><p><bold>Materials and Methods:</bold> In two separated experiments, semen samples from healthy and fertile boars were split in two aliquots, one centrifuged twice (1,500 ×g for 10 min) to harvest seminal plasma, whereas the other was either commercially extended (3 × 10<sup>7</sup> sperm/mL) and liquid-stored at 17°C during 144 h (<italic>n</italic> = 28, Experiment 1) or frozen-thawed using a standard 0.5 mL protocol (<italic>n</italic> = 27, Experiment 2). Sixteen cytokines were quantified using Luminex xMAP®. Sperm attributes (CASA-evaluated total and progressive motility; flow cytometry-evaluated sperm viability, production of intracellular H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and <inline-formula><mml:math id="M1" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msubsup><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>O</mml:mtext></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>•</mml:mo><mml:mo>-</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:msubsup></mml:math></inline-formula> and levels of lipid peroxidation in viable spermatozoa) were evaluated either at 0, 72, or 144 h of liquid storage (Experiment 1) or before freezing and at 30- and 150-min post-thawing (Experiment 2).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Multiple linear regression models, with Bayesian approach for variable selection, revealed that the anti-inflammatory TGF-β2, TGF-β3, IL-1Ra, and IL-4 and the pro-inflammatory IL-8 and IL-18, predicted changes in sperm motility for liquid-stored semen while the anti-inflammatory IFN-γ was included in the models predicting changes in all sperm attributes for cryopreserved semen.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Specific boar seminal plasma cytokines would contribute to modulate the structural and metabolic changes shown by spermatozoa during preservation, either in liquid or frozen state.</p>