EFFECT OF GLUTATHIONE ON BOVINE SPERM CAPACITATION

A C. LIAUDAT; EBEL BARRERA F; BOSCH P; RODRIGUEZ N

Congreso; IV Reunión conjunta de sociedades de biología de la República Argentina; 2020

EFFECT OF GLUTATHIONE ON BOVINE SPERM CAPACITATIONLiaudat AC, Ebel F, Bosch P, Rodriguez N.Instituto de Biotecnología Ambiental y Salud (INBIAS), Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (UNRC) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET).E-mail:cliaudat@gmail.comCapacitation is a set of physiological changes that sperm undergoes to acquire the "ability" to fertilize the oocyte. In vivo, this process is positively associated with high levels of thiol groups in specific proteins present on the sperm surface, where these antioxidant molecules can trigger the release of fully capacitated cells from the oviductal epithelium. One of the most important molecules in the cellular antioxidant system is glutathione (GSH), a tripeptide that contains a thiol group in its structure. The aim of our work was to study the effect of GSH on the sperm capacitation process. One million of bovine spermatozoa obtained from straws of different animals were treated with 1 mM GSH for one hour. The percentage of motility, viability, vigor, acrosomal membrane integrity and cell capacitation were studied in control cells (PBS, GSH vehicle), cells treated with GSH and cells treated with heparin (100 µg/ml, positive control). Capacitation was determined using chlortetracycline as a fluorescent probe. The results were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test. Differences between groups were considered significant at p