Effects of various cryoprotective agents and membrane-stabilizing compounds on bull sperm membrane integrity after cooling and freezing.

In this study attempts were made to improve the survival rates of bull spermatozoa after freezing/thawing and to clarify the importance of certain agents to the cryopreservation of spermatozoa. For that purpose the standard freezing extender was modified by the addition of different concentrations of various cryoprotectants and membrane-stabilizing agents: glycerol, 1,2-propanediol, polyvinylpyrrolidone, sucrose, egg yolk, lipid vesicles, and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Sperm membrane impermeability toward H33258 was employed as the parameter for sperm integrity during cooling and after freezing/thawing. Exclusion of glycerol from the extender did not significantly affect sperm integrity. Replacing 6% glycerol by 6% 1,2-propanediol resulted in reduced sperm survival, whereas replacement of glycerol by 62.5 mM sucrose slightly improved survival rates. Addition of 5 or 10% polyvinylpyrrolidone (either or not in combination with 0.5 M sucrose) significantly reduced sperm integrity. Excluding egg yolk from the extender caused a serious decrease of sperm survival after both cooling and freezing. The cryoprotection offered by egg yolk could not be mimicked by dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) vesicles or DOPC/phosphatidic acid/cholesterol vesicles in concentrations up to 29 or 9 mM, respectively. However, the freezing extender containing 6.5 mM DOPC vesicles in combination with 6% BSA yielded results which did not significantly differ from those obtained with the standard extender; higher vesicle concentrations combined with BSA might produce even better results. Further research on the cryopreservation of bovine spermatozoa should focus on membrane stabilization since the membrane-stabilizing compounds yield more promising results than the ice-preventing agents.