Positive effect of BSA supplemented soybean lecithin based extender on liquid storage of ram semen at 5°C

The aim of the study was to evaluate different BSA doses in soybean-lecithin based extenders for liquid storage of ram semen. Pooled semen was divided into four equal volumes and diluted in a single-step dilution method with BSA supplemented (BSA5, BSA7.5, BSA10 groups supplemented 5mg/mL, 7.5mg/mL, 10mg/mL BSA respectively) and BSA-free (control) extenders. Semen samples were assessed for sperm motility, plasma membrane functional integrity using hypo-osmotic swelling test (HOST), damaged acrosome using FITC-Pisum sativum agglutinin (PSA-FITC) at 0, 24, 48 and 72h of storage at 5 °C. Antioxidant activities of groups at 0 and 72h were measured with glutathionine (GSH) concentration, membrane lipid peroxidation status was analyzed using the malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration. Antioxidant capacity of extender also was measured with 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) assays. In the study, BSA (5mg/mL) supplementation has beneficial effect on ram sperm parameters at all evaluation times. In addition, the increasing doses of BSA supplementation has a negative effect on sperm parameters especially 48 and 72h of storage.