HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Amann, R. P. Articles by Almquist, J. O. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Amann, R. P. Articles by Almquist, J. O.

Reproductive Capacity of Dairy Bulls. VII. Morphology of Epididymal Sperm¹

Dairy Breeding Research Center, Department of Dairy Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park

ABSTRACT

Fourteen normal, mature bulls were sexually rested (SR), five ejaculated six or seven times weekly, and 15 depleted (SR-D) before slaughter. Significant, but small, treatment effects were noted in the percentages of abnormal heads, abnormal midpieces, and tailless sperm in the epididymis. The most pronounced effects were lower (P < 0.01) percentages of unstained or live sperm (eosinaniline blue) and sperm with distal protoplasmic droplets in the cauda epididymis for SR-D as compared with SR bulls. Unilateral vasectomy of nine other bulls did not significantly affect any morphological characteristic. When values for 85 epididymides were averaged, ignoring preslaughter treatment, percentages of abnormal heads, abnormal midpieces, tailless sperm, bent or broken tails, coiled tails, proximal droplets, and distal droplets for the caput, corpus, and cauda epididymis were, respectively, 3.4, 2.5, 2.4; 1.1, 1.4, 0.8; 5.1, 10.1, 2.1; 4.4, 6.5, 8.4; 0.0, 0.8, 0.4; 44.4, 1.9, 2.1; and 7.5, 29.6, and 67.9%. Percentages of unstained sperm for the caput, corpus, and cauda for 40 epididymides were 77.0, 51.3, and 72.5. When diluted in 0.9% NaCl, 5.3% of the sperm from the corpus and 32.1% from the cauda were motile. Eosinophilia of sperm from the corpus epididymis apparently is not associated directly with cell death but, rather, with a change in membrane permeability. The best morphological indication of impending cell death appeared to be a high incidence of bent or broken tails, followed by complete loss of the tail and increased eosinophilia.

¹ Authorized for publication on May 14, 1962, as paper no. 2666 in the journal series of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T.G. Cooper Cytoplasmic droplets: the good, the bad or just confusing? Hum. Reprod., January 1, 2005; 20(1): 9 - 11. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]