Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia. maria.almbro@.uwa.edu.au
Ecol Lett. 2011 Sep;14(9):891-5. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2011.01653.x. Epub 2011 Jul 12.
Sperm are particularly prone to oxidative damage because they generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), have a high polyunsaturated fat content and a reduced capacity to repair DNA damage. The dietary compounds vitamin E and beta-carotene are argued to have antioxidant properties that help to counter the damaging effects of excess ROS. Here in, we tested the post-copulatory consequences for male crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) of dietary intake of these two candidate antioxidants. During competitive fertilisation trials, vitamin E, but not beta-carotene, singularly enhanced sperm competitiveness. However, the diet combining a high vitamin E dose and beta-carotene produced males with the most competitive ejaculates, possibly due to the known ability of beta-carotene to recycle vitamin E. Our results provide support for the idea that these two common dietary compounds have interactive antioxidant properties in vivo, by affecting the outcomes of male reproductive success under competitive conditions.
精子特别容易受到氧化损伤，因为它们会产生活性氧（ROS），含有高含量的多不饱和脂肪，并且修复 DNA 损伤的能力降低。维生素 E 和β-胡萝卜素等膳食化合物据称具有抗氧化特性，有助于抵消过量 ROS 的破坏性影响。在这里，我们测试了这两种候选抗氧化剂对雄性蟋蟀（Teleogryllus oceanicus）的交配后后果。在竞争性受精试验中，只有维生素 E 而不是β-胡萝卜素单独增强了精子的竞争力。然而，高剂量维生素 E 和β-胡萝卜素相结合的饮食使雄性具有最具竞争力的精液，这可能是由于β-胡萝卜素已知能够回收维生素 E。我们的研究结果为以下观点提供了支持，即在体内，这两种常见的膳食化合物通过影响竞争条件下雄性生殖成功的结果，具有相互作用的抗氧化特性。
