Melatonin as an antioxidant preserving sperm from domestic animals

Abstract

The role of melatonin on sperm function as well as its use as antioxidant for sperm conservation is analysed in this review. Melatonin has been included in the cooling/freezing media for the conservation of spermatozoa. Depending on the animal species, the best dose to improve sperm quality and fertile capacity is in the range from 0.01 mM to 3.00 mM. Since the work started on the use of melatonin as antioxidant for the conservation of spermatozoa (2011), a search for references was done on the subject using internet and our university libraries: journals, proceedings, thesis, etc. The search focused on animal spermatozoa, but a collection of papers on human spermatozoa was also carried out.

Keywords

• Semen
• Sperm viability
• Freeze-thawing
• ROS