Department of Gynecology, School of Medicine, Fertility and Infertility Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
Cell Tissue Bank. 2024 Jun;25(2):531-540. doi: 10.1007/s10561-023-10110-3. Epub 2023 Sep 30.
Biochemical and physical changes during the cryopreservation process adversely affect sperm function required for fertilization. Recently, many studies have been conducted to find effective pre-freezing treatments to limit these damages. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of pre-freezing treatment with quercetin and crocin, individually or in combination, on sperm parameters after thawing procedure. For this, semen samples from 20 normozoospermic men were collected and then each sample was divided into five equal parts: 1. fresh group 2. frozen-thawed group without addition of antioxidants 3. frozen-thawed group containing 1 mM crocin, 4. frozen-thawed group containing 50 μM quercetin, and 5. frozen-thawed group containing a combination of 1 mM crocin and 50 μM quercetin. Pre-cryopreservation and post-thaw sperm motility, morphology, viability, DNA fragmentation, reactive oxygen species [1] (ROS) levels, and mitochondrial membrane potential [2] (MMP) were investigated. Cryopreservation significantly reduced sperm quality. Both crocin and quercetin individually improved sperm progressive motility, decreased ROS levels, reduced DNA fragmentation, and marginally increased MMP, though crocin seems to be more successful in protecting sperm quality. More interestingly, the combined addition of crocin and quercetin to the sperm-freezing medium did not show positive effects on sperm quality. Crocin and quercetin may play a role in mitigating the cryopreservation-induced injury to sperm.
在冷冻保存过程中，生化和物理变化会对受精所需的精子功能产生不利影响。最近，许多研究都致力于寻找有效的预冻处理方法，以限制这些损伤。本研究旨在探讨分别或联合使用槲皮素和藏红花酸预处理对解冻后精子参数的影响。为此，收集了 20 名正常精子症男性的精液样本，然后将每个样本分为五等份：1.新鲜组；2.未添加抗氧化剂的冷冻-解冻组；3. 含有 1mM 藏红花酸的冷冻-解冻组；4. 含有 50μM 槲皮素的冷冻-解冻组；5. 含有 1mM 藏红花酸和 50μM 槲皮素的冷冻-解冻组。研究了预冷冻和解冻后精子活力、形态、活力、DNA 碎片化、活性氧（ROS）水平和线粒体膜电位（MMP）。冷冻保存显著降低了精子质量。单独使用藏红花酸和槲皮素均能提高精子的前向运动能力，降低 ROS 水平，减少 DNA 碎片化，略微增加 MMP，但藏红花酸似乎更能有效保护精子质量。更有趣的是，将藏红花酸和槲皮素联合添加到精子冷冻保存液中，对精子质量没有显示出积极的影响。藏红花酸和槲皮素可能在减轻冷冻保存对精子的损伤方面发挥作用。
