Protective function of alpha-lipoic acid on sperm motility and mitochondrial function during goat sperm-mediated gene transfer

Sperm-mediated gene transfer is a promising technology to generate transgenic animals, but the incubation of the sperm cell with target gene plasmids often impairs the sperm motility and mitochondrial function. Alpha-lipoic acid is one of the beneficial antioxidants, which has been used to protect many types of cells from impairment of their function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the alpha-lipoic acid as an antioxidant of sperm motility and mitochondrial function during the incubation of goat semen with the human lysozyme pFLAG-hLY plasmid, in the TALP-Fert medium containing 100 μM alpha-lipoic acid. Results demonstrate that alpha-lipoic acid significantly improved sperm motility, the rapid forward progression and straight linear velocities, as well as the mitochondrial function of the sperm cell. Also, alpha-lipoic acid supplementation effectively limited reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, inhibited lipid peroxidation and prevented early sperm membrane damage. In conclusion, it can be said that alpha-lipoic acid provided a protective function for goat sperm against pFLAG-hLY plasmid damage during sperm incubation with the human lysozyme plasmid in sperm-mediated gene transfer.