Detection of intracellular reactive oxygen species (superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide) and lipid peroxidation during cryopreservation of alpaca spermatozoa

The objective of this study was to detect changes in intracellular reactive oxygen species (superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide) production and lipid peroxidation during cryopreservation of alpaca spermatozoa. Twelve alpaca semen samples were conventionally cryopreserved. Intracellular superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide were evaluated by fluorescence microscopy using dihydroethidium (DHE)/YO‐PRO‐1 and dichlorofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA)/propidium iodide (PI), respectively. Evaluations were performed during cooling curve at (1) 25°C, (2) 15°C, (3) 5°C/0 min, (4) 5°C/15 min, (5) 5°C/30 min and (6) after freezing/thawing. Evaluation of lipid peroxidation by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) was performed at 25°C, 5°C/30 min and after thawing. Maximum percentages of total spermatozoa producing superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide were found at 5°C/30 min (62.8 ± 6.3% and 30.5 ± 5.6%, respectively), and these results were higher (p < .05) than initial (25°C: 10.8 ± 3.8% and 6.8 ± 0.7%, respectively) and after thawing (29.8 ± 9.5% and 7.5 ± 1.8%, respectively) values. However, considering only viable spermatozoa, production of superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide during overall stabilization at 5°C (>76% and >91%, respectively) and after thawing (74.9 ± 5.0% and 78.9 ± 2.2%, respectively) was higher (p < .05) than initial values at 25°C (38.7 ± 3.1% and 53.6 ± 2.0%, respectively). Lipid peroxidation at 25°C, 5°C/30 min, and post‐thawing were 346.5 ± 99.8, 401.1 ± 64.8 and 527.7 ± 142.8 ng/ml MDA, respectively. These results showed that high percentage of viable alpaca spermatozoa produces intracellular reactive species oxygen (ROS) during the cryopreservation process of alpaca semen.