Morphometric characteristics and chromatin integrity of spermatozoa in three Italian dog breeds

作者：Lange Consiglio A^*; Antonucci N; Manes S; Corradetti B; Cremonesi F; Bizzaro D

来源：Journal of Small Animal Practice, 2010, 51(12): 624-627.

DOI：10.1111/j.1748-5827.2010.01001.x

Methods: Spermatozoan morphometry and DNA quality (measured by TUNEL flow cytometry) were assessed in semen from 11 dogs of three Italian breeds (Cirneco dell'Etna, Piccolo Levriero Italiano and Segugio Maremmano).
Results: Morphometric data showed that Segugio dogs had significantly larger (33 center dot 67%) spermatozoa and that Piccolo Levrieros had a higher incidence of long (46 center dot 75%) and elliptical spermatozoan heads (11 center dot 5%) when compared with the samples from other breeds. Moreover, the predominance of elliptical spermatozoa in one dog (23%) was significantly related to the percentage of spermatozoa with fragmented DNA (12 center dot 6%), whereas in another dog, where no more than 1% of spermatozoa was elliptical, only 0 center dot 36% of spermatozoa had damaged DNA. It is noteworthy that the breeding record of the former dog in the previous 12 months showed poor fertility and fecundity.
Clinical Significance: These data suggest that spermatozoan head morphometry could be breed related and that there is a significant correlation between DNA fragmentation and elliptical spermatozoa in individual animals. This finding, albeit limited in our study to a single case, is possibly related to clinical infertility.

• 出版日期2010-12