The Impact of Sperm Metabolism during In Vitro Storage: The Stallion as a Model

Figure 1

Implications of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) on sperm storage in vitro. Mitochondrial superoxide () leakage causes lipid peroxidation and reactive electrophilic aldehyde production. These aldehydes adduct to functional proteins resulting in motility loss and mitochondrial damage, which may trigger apoptosis and oxidative DNA damage. If this damage does not result in cell death, then germ line mutations may cause embryonic failure and abortion or, should the mutations not be lethal, result in poor health in the resulting offspring.