Egg yolk (20%; v/v) was added to the each extender and mixed by placing the tube to an orbital shaker for 10 min and centrifuged at 15,000g for 60 min, and the supernatant was filtered through a 0.45 μm membrane filter. Egg yolk phospholipids were then solubilized by adding 0.75% (v/v) Equex-Paste (Minitüb, Tiefenbach, Germany) to the extender. Sperm samples (100 μl) from SD or F344 were transferred into 1.5 ml centrifuge tubes containing 400 μl of each freezing extender and gently mixed by inverting the tube. After dilution, motility analysis was performed

using a phase Akt inhibitor contrast microscopy equipped with 20× objective. The sperm samples were then equilibrated at 4 °C for 45 min. After equilibration in the extenders, 150 μl sperm sample from each extender was placed onto a shallow quartz dish (14 mm inner diameter and 2.56 mm deep) and covered with a round coverslip and then inserted into Linkam cryostage (TMS-94) that was mounted on a Nikon microscope.

The AZD2281 order samples were then cooled by using various cooling rates (10, 40, 70 and 100 °C/min) to final temperature of −150 °C. For thawing, the quartz dish containing the sperm samples was rapidly removed from the Linkam cryostage and placed on a 37 °C slide warmer in order to have direct contact with the warm surface to achieve about 1000 °C/min warming rate. After warming, motility analysis was performed and the samples were transferred into 1.5 mL Eppendorf tubes containing 150 μL TL-HEPES base solution. All samples were underwent mitochondrial, acrosome and membrane integrity assessment. SYBR-14/Propidium iodide (Live/Dead sperm viability kit, catalog no: L-7011, Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA)

and Alexa Fluor-488-PNA (catalog no: L-21,409, Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA) conjugate were used to determine rat sperm plasma membrane and acrosome integrity, respectively. For plasma membrane integrity, 200 μl TL-HEPES Fossariinae solution was gently added to the tube containing 100 μl thawed sperm (1–2 × 106 spermatozoa/ml). Diluted sperm samples were incubated with 5 μL PI (0.5 μM final concentration) and 10 μL (0.4 μM final concentration) SYBR-14 at 37 °C for 10 min. After staining, 10 μl of sperm sample was placed on a microscope slide, covered with a coverslip and observed under the epifluorescence microscope (Nikon Eclipse 600 using a dual fluorescence filter). The images of stained sperm samples were classified into two groups: sperm head displaying green fluorescence was considered to be membrane intact, whereas sperm displaying red fluorescence in the head was considered to be damaged membrane. 100 sperm per sample were counted as described previously [52]. To evaluate sperm acrosomal integrity, thawed sperm samples were washed to remove freezing extender.