ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Molecular and Cellular Reproduction
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1583951
Mitochonic acid 5 increases boar sperm quality by mitigating mitochondrial dysfunction
Provisionally accepted
- 1Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
- 2University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States
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Mitochondrial dysfunction causes an increase in oxidative stress and a depletion in ATP production. Studies have shown that Mitochonic Acid 5 (MA-5) improves cellular mitochondrial metabolism and ATP production. To this end, varying concentrations of MA-5 (0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 nM) were added to a BTS extender, thereafter sperm motility and morphological parameters were assessed. Results show that adding 1 nM MA-5 significantly enhanced boar sperm motility and progressive motility, with higher values observed at the 1 and 2 h time points compared to the control. Sperm membrane and acrosome integrity values between the control and treatment were not different except for 10 nM MA-5, which showed a reduction in membrane integrity. Also, MA-5, specifically 1 nM MA-5 treatment, significantly boosted mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP content at the 2 h incubation point.Besides, MA-5 treatments stabilized mitochondrial transcription and translation processes, maintaining overall sperm functionality, increased NADPH dehydrogenase subunits 1(MT-ND1) and NADPH dehydrogenase subunits 6 (MT-ND6) protein and gene expression, and affected mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) levels.However, after 4 h of incubation with MA-5, a decline in sperm quality parameters and an increase in ROS levels were observed. Interestingly, adding 10 nM pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) and MA-5 to the extender restored mitochondrial function by enhancing mitochondrial potential and ATP content after 4 h of incubation. Overall, 1 nM MA-5 can help maintain sperm quality and mitochondrial metabolism during incubation (up to 2 h) at 37 o C. Moreover, a combination of MA-5 and 10 nM PQQ addition to the extender is crucial for maintaining high-quality reproduction in boar sperm after 4 h of incubation. Consequently, MA-5 and PQQ play a role in maintaining sperm quality and mitochondrial function, and can help in boar sperm preservation and AI practices.
Keywords: Boar sperm, quality, mitochondrial, Metabolism, mitochonic acid 5
Received: 26 Feb 2025; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Adetunji, Min and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhendong Zhu, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China
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