Antioxidant effect of Mn2+ on capacitation and acrosome reaction of fresh and chilled cattle bull semen

The aim of this paper was to investigate the antioxidant effect of Mn2+ (200 mM) on the sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction of fresh and chilled cattle bull semen. It has been found that Mn2+ supplementation improves (P≤0.05) the motility at 0, 2, 4 and 6 h of incubation. MDA (malondialdehyde), end product of lipid peroxidation, decreases significantly (P≤0.05) with the supplementation of manganese at 0- and 6-hr of incubation both in fresh and chilled semen. Manganese also increases acrosome reaction significantly (P≤0.05) both in fresh and chilled semen at 0, 4 and 6 h of incubation. Therefore, our findings suggest the role of Mn2+supplementation in improving the quality of cattle bull semen by its scavenging property i.e. reduction in the production of reactive oxygen species during its storage at 4°C or incubation at 37°C for capacitation.