China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2024, Vol. 51 ›› Issue (5): 2007-2014.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2024.05.022

• Preventive Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effect of Astragalus Polysaccharides on Cryopreservation of Semen in Sheep

WANG Zhenguo, LI Hansen, ZHANG Li, ZHOU Qian, SHI Juanjuan, SHI Lei, REN Youshe   

  1. College of Animal Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, China
  • Received:2023-10-15 Online:2024-05-05 Published:2024-04-28

Abstract: 【Objective】 The experiment was aimed to investigate the effect of adding Astragalus polysaccharide into the diluent on the cryopreservation of Dorper ram semen.【Method】 The semen was collected from six adult Dorper rams by artificial vagina method,and semen with a viability rate >80% was mixed.The fresh semen of sheep was gradually diluted using the base diluent and the cooling diluent,and it was slowly cooled down to 4 ℃,then the semen was diluted with the added Astragali polysaccharides of 0,0.01,0.05,and 0.10 mg/mL and cryo-equilibrated.The balanced semen was dispensed into 0.25 mL freezing tubule and fumigated above liquid nitrogen before semen were frozen at liquid nitrogen.The sperm quality indicators (vitality and viability) and sperm motility parameters (velocity average path,velocity curvilinear,velocity straight line,wobble,linearity,and straightness) were detected through CASA after freezing-thawing.The plasma membrane integrity was detected by HOST,and the sperm DNA integrity and mitochondrial activity were detected using dual fluorescence staining.【Result】 Before and after semen freezing,the sperm motility,viability and motility of sheep were significantly reduced.Sperm vitality,viability,velocity average path,linearity,wobble and mitochondrial activity were significantly higher in 0.01 mg/mL Astragali polysaccharides -added group than in the rest of the groups after semen freezing and thawing (P<0.05).The sperm velocity curvilinear,velocity straight line,straightness,plasma membrane integrity,and DNA integrity of 0.01 mg/mL Astragalus polysaccharide group were significantly higher than those of control group and 0.10 mg/mL Astragalus polysaccharide group (P<0.05),but had no significant difference with 0.05 mg/mL Astragalus polysaccharide group (P>0.05).【Conclusion】 The addition of 0.01 mg/mL Astragalus polysaccharide to the freezing diluents was able to protect the structure of sheep spermatozoa,effectively increase sperm viability,viability and motility after freezing-thawing,and improve the effect of sheep semen freezing.

Key words: Dorper sheep; semen; cryopreservation; Astragalus polysaccharides

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