RESUMEN
Objective: Although key roles for dietary vitamin E [VITE] and fatty acid [FA] in fertility have been confirmed, limited data are available on the effects of VITE alone, or a constant level of VITE supplemented by dietary omega-6 and omega-3 FAs in combination on male reproduction. Consequently in this paper, the effects of VITE, sunflower oil, fish oil and their combination on rat sperm were investigated
Materials and Methods: We divided 50 mature male Wistar rats into 5 groups [n=10] in a experimental completely randomized design for eight weeks: i. Control [CTR]: standard diet; ii. Vitamin E diet [VITE]: 2 times greater than recommendations; iii. Sunflower oil group [n-6] [gavaged with 0.5 ml/day/rat sunflower oil+VITE diet]; iv. Fish oil group [n-3]: [gavaged with 0.5 ml/day/rat fish oil+VITE diet] and v. n-3+n-6 group [gavaged with 0.3 ml fish oil/day/rat+0.2 ml sunflower oil/day/rat+VITE diet]. The sperm parameters were measured by computer assisted semen analyzer [CASA]. All data were analyzed with SPSS software
Results: Feed intake decreased in groups which were administered sunflower oil compared with the other groups [P<0.05]. The groups which received only VITE or fish oil+VITE had a significantly higher concentration of sperm compared with the n-6+n-3 and CTR group [P<0.05]. VITE and n-3 showed significant improved progressive motility compared to the CTR group, whereas the n-6 and n-6+n-3 groups were in the middle [P<0.05]. The highest sperm kinematic parameters were observed in the VITE only group. There was no strong correlation between sperm parameters and blood lipid profiles
Conclusion: Dietary VITE and fish oil+VITE can improve sperm quality. Our findings can be a focus for improvements in sperm quantity and motility in fertile animals using only dietary VITE