The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of adding
zinc oxide nanoparticles to the ram
semen cryopreservation diluter.
Semen pools (n=6), from three Santa Inês breeders, were diluted in Tris-yolk (5%
glycerol ), supplemented with
zinc oxide nanoparticles (0, 25, 75 and 150μg/mL) at a concentration of 200x10 6
sperm /mL. The samples were frozen in an automated system and stored in liquid
nitrogen (-196 °C). At the timeof
analysis , the
semen samples were thawed (37 °C/30s) and evaluated for
sperm kinetics ,
plasma and acrosomal
membrane integrity and
mitochondrial membrane potential . There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the experimental groups in the
parameters of
kinetics ,
plasma membrane and
acrosome integrity. As for the potential of
mitochondrial membrane , all treated groups were significantly (p≤0.05) larger than the control. It was concluded that the
zinc oxide nanoparticles increase the
mitochondrial membrane potential of ram
sperm submitted to the
freezing /thawing process.