MICROENCAPSULATED SWINE SPERM STORED AT 18°C: EVALUATION OF ENERGY METABOLISM

摘要

Several enzymes, as cytochrome oxidase (CTO) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are involved in boar spermatozoa energy metabolism and membrane integrity (1): others, as glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPDH) provide an effective defence against the membrane oxidative damage. The porcine acrosomal membrane is highly susceptible to lipid peroxidation because of the widespread distribution of polyunsaturated lipids, limiting the in vivo and in vitro vitality and fertilizing ability, mainly after a short-term refrigerate storage. A swine spermatozoa encapsulation technique in barium algmate gel membrane has been developed to improve the quality of stored semen and to increase the efficiency of the artificial insemination techniques (2). Aim of this workwas to verify if semen encapsulation procedure could ameliorate the 18°C storage of semen respect to a classical extender dilution, considering enzymatic activity and non-reacted acrosomes (NRA) as vitality index.