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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Reproduction - Theriogenology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1544234
This article is part of the Research Topic Reproductive biotechnologies and challenges in their application - volume II View all articles
Effect of chitosan on buck semen quality and semen plasma metabolites during low-temperature storage
Provisionally accepted
Meijun Song 
Bingke Jia Dinghui Dai 
Xiaoli Xu Jiaxue Cao 
Jiazhong Guo 
Linjie Wang 
Tao Zhong 
SIYUAN ZHAN Li Li 
Hongping Zhang *- Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
Optimizing buck semen preservation techniques can significantly advance the goat industry. This study aimed to investigate the effects of chitosan on sperm quality and seminal plasma metabolite profiles in bucks during low-temperature storage at 4°C. The results showed that when 0.2 mg/mL chitosan was added to semen dilution, sperm viability and antioxidant capacity were highest and significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). Sperm viability decreased progressively with increasing storage time at 4 °C. However, on day 5, sperm viability was significantly higher in all groups where chitosan was added to the semen dilutions than in the control group(P<0.05).A total of 23 classes of metabolites were detected in the non-targeted metabolism group of seminal plasma. The metabolite caused by chitosan mainly included fatty acyls, phospholipids, amino acids and organic acids. Most differential metabolites in fatty acyls and glycerophospholipids in chitosan-treated semen were decreased and enriched in the anabolic pathway of unsaturated fatty acids. Additionally, several oligopeptides showed correlations with sperm quality. These results suggest that adding 0.2 mg/mL chitosan to semen diluent successfully prolongs the low-temperature preservation of semen mainly by altering the anabolism of lipids and amino acids. This provides theoretical support and practical reference for the applying chitosan in the low-temperature preservation of buck semen.
Keywords: Chitosan, Buck semen, seminal plasma metabolites, low-temperature preservation chitosan, Low-temperature preservation
Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 27 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Song, Jia, Dai, Xu, Cao, Guo, Wang, Zhong, ZHAN, Li and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hongping Zhang, Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.