RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN IRON AND COPPER CONTENT, MOTILITY CHARACTERISTICS AND ANTIOXIDANT STATUS IN BOVINE SEMINAL PLASMA

To investigate the effects of iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) content on basic motility characteristics (motility, progressive motility) and total antioxidant status (TAS) in the bovine seminal plasma semen samples were collected from breeding bulls and used in the study. Motility analysis was carried out using the Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) system. Subsequently, the samples were centrifuged and seminal plasma was collected. Fe and Cu concentrations were determined by flame absorption spectrophotometry (FAS), TAS was analyzed by UV/VIS spectrophotometry. The analysis showed that the average concentrations of the trace elements were 39.95 +/- 0.07 mu g/mL for Fe and 1.55 +/- 0.22 mu g/mL for Cu. The correlation analysis revealed that both metals were positively correlated with motility (r=0.527; P<0.05 for Fe and r=0.571; P<0.05 for Cu), progressive motility (r=0.496; P<0.05 for Fe and r=0.513; P<0.05 for Cu), as well as TAS (r=0.694; P<0.01 for Cu; r=0.519; P<0.05 for Fe). Moreover, the samples were categorized in three quality groups (Excellent, Good, Moderate) according to their motility values. The highest Cu and Fe concentrations together with the best antioxidant characteristics were found in samples of excellent quality, moderate quality samples were described by the lowest Fe and Cu concentration and the worst antioxidant power. This study demonstrates that Cu and Fe are important for the preservation of sperm motility and antioxidant power, however this property is bound to their physiological amounts only.