IN VITRO EFFECTS OF ACINETOBACTER BAUMANNII AND SELECTED NATURAL BIOMOLECULES ON RABBIT SPERMATOZOA MOTILITY

The aim of this study was to assess the potential efficiency of selected biologicallyactive substances on the motility behaviour of rabbit spermatozoa subjected to invitro induced A. baumannii contamination. The semen samples used for A.baumannii detection were collected from 10 New Zealand white male rabbits andthe presence of the bacterium was confirmed using MALDI-TOF MassSpectrometry. For the in vitro experiments rabbit spermatozoa were re-suspendedin PBS, containing mineral supplements, BSA and glucose in the presence of 3x105CFU A. baumannii and diverse concentrations of selected biomolecules (resveratrol- RES, quercetin - QUE, curcumin - CUR, epicatechin - EPI, isoquercitrin - ISO).The sperm motility was assessed using the computer-aided sperm analysis at 0h,2h, 4h and 6h. A. baumannii significantly decreased the sperm motility (P<0.001)at Time 2h and maintained this negative impact throughout the in vitro culture.Meanwhile, the motility at Time 2h was significantly higher in the samples subjectedto A. baumannii together with 10 μmol/L RES (P<0.01); 5, 10 and 50 μmol/L QUE(P<0.001); 1 μmol/L CUR (P<0.05); 10, 50 and 100 μmol/L EPI (P<0.01) as well as 50μmol/L (P<0.05) and 100 μmol/L ISO (P<0.001) in comparison to the control exposedto the bacterium exclusively. After 4h, the motility remained significantly higher in thegroups co-treated with the inoculum and 10 μmol/L RES (P<0.05), 50 μmol/L QUE(P<0.05) as well as 50 μmol/L EPI (P