Evaluation of the preservative effect of sericin on rabbit spermatozoons chilled to different degrees

Silk is a natural macro-molecular protein derived from the silkworm species bombyx mori. Sericin can be obtained in raw silk production stage for different purposes. Sericin, which has properties such as oxidation resistant, antibacterial, UV resistant and easily absorbing moisture, is a protein that can be used in different fields due to these properties. Sericin and sericin composites can be used as biomaterial and biomedical material. Many studies have been carried out to develop new methods for storing rabbit sperm under appropriate conditions. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of sericin addition to semen diluents on spermatological parameters in short term storage of rabbit sperm. Semen collected for this purpose was diluted with TCG at a ratio of 1: 4. The diluted semen was divided into two separate Eppendorf tubes with a volume of 1.5 ml as control and experimental groups. For the experimental group, 170μL sericin was added to the diluted sperm in order to obtain 0.5% ratio. Both 1.5 ml volumes were dispensed into 2 separate 0.5 ml Eppendorf tubes and allowed to incubate at 24th and 48th hours for evaluation. The same procedure was applied for both temperatures (5 ° C and 15 ° C). When the temperatures were evaluated separately, it was observed that there was no statistically significant difference between the groups at the 24th and 48th hours (P> 0.05). When the degree factor was taken as co-variant, it was observed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean acrosome reaction in the 48th hour of the control and experimental groups which were group factor levels (P <0.05). Keywords: extender, rabbit, sericin, spermatozoon,