P-85: Detrimental Effects of High Concentration Taurine on Sperm Motility and Viability

Background: Taurine regulates an unusual number of biological phenomena,including heart rhythm, contractile function, blood pressure, platelet aggregation, neuronal excitability and body temperature. It appears to be a sperm motility factor (SMF), although the mechanism that maintains motility has apparently not been elucidated. It may act by alterations in either ion transport (osmoregulation) or protein phosphorylation or it may be decrease lipid peroxidation. In this syudy, we investigated the effects of various concentrations of taurine on in vitro sperm motility over time. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 6 lamb testis which gathered from abattoir. Semen samples were collected from epididymis and mixed with STALP medium + 5 mg/ml V fraction of Bovine Serum Albumin. Before and after 120 minutes incubation at 37 ºC and 5 % CO2, sperm motility parameters were measured by CASA (Hooshmand Fanavar, Iran) in the presence of 0.05, 0.2 and 0.4 M taurine. Results: Our result showed that 0.2 M concentration of Taurine cause increase in sperm motility, although this effect was not significant (p>0.05). In 0.4 M concentration of taurine, class A of sperm motility significantly decreased (4.44 ± 0.72 vs 35.68 ± 7.4 for Taurine and control group respectively p<0.01) and class C motility significantly increased (11.24 ± 1.25 vs. 4.58 ± 1.49 for Taurine and control group respectiely p<0.01). Conclusion: Present study demonstrated that although taurine could improve sperm motility parameters, higher concentration of this compound (0.4 M) had detrimental effects on sperm motility and viability.