SUBNORMAL TESTICULAR FUNCTION IN A BULL CONCEALED BY PHAGOCYTOSIS OF ABNORMAL SPERMATOZOA IN THE EFFERENT DUCTULES

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1 SUBNORMAL TESTICULAR FUNCTION IN A BULL CONCEALED BY PHAGOCYTOSIS OF ABNORMAL SPERMATOZOA IN THE EFFERENT DUCTULES B. CRABO, B. GUSTAFSSON, L. NICANDER and A. R. RAO Departments f Clinical Bichemistry, f Obstetrics and Gynaeclgy and f Anatmy and Histlgy, Ryal Veterinary Cllege, S Stckhlm, Sweden (Received 11th March 1971) Sperm cunts frm different levels f the male ducts have suggested a selective remval f abnrmal spermatza in the epididymis (Orgebin-Crist, 1964; LeRy-Gilette, 1966; Russel, Stallcup & Austin, 1967). Phagcytsis f spermatza by epithelial cells, hwever, has rarely been reprted (Nicander, 1963) except in cases f epididymal bstructin (cf. Orgebin-Crist, 1969). The present reprt n frequent phagcytsis f abnrmal spermatza in the efferent ductules f a bull adds material t the discussin n sperm eliminatin in the male genital ducts. The bull was f the Swedish Red and White Breed, 15 mnths ld and purchased as nrmal. It had served a few times and prduced ffspring. During 2 mnths' stay at the clinic, its semen picture was within the nrmal limits given by Lagerl\l="\f(1934), thugh the percentage f pathlgical heads was clse t the upper limit (Table 1). After death, material fr light and electrn micrscpy and fr chemical investigatin (Crab, 1965) was btained frm testes and epididymides. Sperm mrphlgy was studied quantitatively after fixatin in frml saline (Hancck, 1957). Other methds which were used are shwn in the tables and legends, and micrscpe findings in Plate 1. Table 2 shws that the sample frm the rete testis cntained a high percentage f detached sperm heads, mst f which had disappeared befre the prximal part f the epididymal duct was reached. Electrn micrscpy f the efferent ductules prduced ample evidence f epithelial phagcytsis f brken spermatza. Sperm heads and tails in different stages f disintegratin were cmmn in the cytplasm f sme nnciliated cells. The pssibility that sme intact spermatza were als phagcytsed culd nt be excluded. Abnrmal sperm heads were numerus in the rete testis and caput epididymidis (see Ra, 1971). Their number decreased in the crpus epididymidis, but selective epithelial phagcytsis f such sperma tza culd nt be demnstrated. A decrease in the percentage fabnrmal sperm heads in the efferent ductules and epididymal ducts f bulls was als bserved by Ra (1971). The numbers f detached heads in the rete testis f the present bull are abnrmally high cmpared t the findings f Gustafssn & Crab (1971) fr * Present address: Department f Obstetrics and Gynaeclgy, Cllege f Veterinary Science, Tirupati, India. 393

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3 Phagcytsis f abnrmal spermatza in the bull 395 nrmal bulls: abut 0-4% in the rete with a slight increase in the epididymis. The cnsiderably higher numbers fund by Glver (1961), Amann & Almquist (1962) and Russel et al. (1967) might be explained n the grunds fdifferences in technique. The number f sperm tail defects bserved in the epididymal duct f the present case (Table 2) was higher than in nrmal bulls (Gustafssn & Crab, 1971). A variety f chemical changes in the epididymal plasma have been shwn t be crrelated with increased numbers f detached sperm heads and bent r ciled tails in the lwer part f the epididymis (Gustafssn, 1966). Plasma frm different epididymal segments f the present bull was analysed fr spermatcrit, sdium, ptassium, chlride and ttal prtein accrding t Crab (1965). The values btained fr sdium (41 mequiv./litre), ptassium (34 mequiv./litre) and chlride (21 mequiv./litre) in Segment F were tw standard deviatins r mre abve the mean values fr nrmal bulls (Crab, 1965), and slightly increased als in segment E. The prtein cncentratin was much abve nrmal bth in Segment D (15-5 mg N/ml) and in Segment F (11-0 mg N/ml). There is, therefre, a pssibility that the cmpsitin f the epididymal plasma f the present bull might reflect an increased sperm dis integratin. It wuld appear that the semen characteristics f ejaculates can be within physilgical limits, thugh testicular functin is subnrmal. The riginal presence f a high number f pathlgical and detached sperm heads can be cncealed by phagcytsis in the ductuli efferentes (and pssibly the prximal part f the epididymis). The functin f the epididymis in the bull described here was prbably abnrmal, as judged by the cmpsitin f the epididymal plasma, and this shuld be taken int accunt in interpreting the results. REFERENCES Amann, R. P. & Almquist, J. O. (1962) Reprductive capacity f dairy bulls. VI. Effect f unilateral vasectmy and ejaculatin frequency n sperm reserves; aspects f epididymal functin. J. Reprd. Fert. 3, 260. Crab, B. (1965) Studies n the cmpsitin f epididymal cntent in bulls and bars. Ada vet. scand. 6, Suppl. 5. Glver, T. D. (1961) Disintegrated spermatza frm the epididymis. Nature, Lnd. 190, 185. Gustafssn, B. (1966) Luminal cntents f the bvine epididymis under cnditins f reduced sperma tgenesis, luminal blckage and certain sperm abnrmalities. Ada vet. scand., Suppl. 17. Gustafssn, B. & Crab, B. (1971) Sme mrphlgical characteristics f bull spermatza at different levels f the epididymis. Nrd. Vet.-Med. 23, 114. Hancck, J. L. (1957) The mrphlgy f bar spermatza. Jl R. micrsc. Sc. 76, 84. Lagerlöf, N. (1934) Mrphlgische Untersuchungen über Veränderungen im Spermabild und in den Hden bei Bullen mit verminderter der aufgehbener Fertilität. Ada path, micrbil. scand., Suppl. 19. LeRy-Gilette, M. E. (1966) Mrphlgy f bvine epididymal spermatza after X-irradiatin f testes. Diss. Abstr. 26, Nicander, L. (1958) Studies n the reginal histlgy and cytchemistry f the ductus epididymis in stallins, rams and bulls. Ada mrph. neerl.-scand. 1, 337. Nicander, L. (1963) Resrptin phenmena in the epididymis. (Abstract) Int. J. Fert. 8, 866. Orgebin-Crist, M. C. (1964) Delayed incrpratin f thymidine-3h in epithelial cells f the ductus epididymidis f the rabbit. J. Reprd. Fert. 8, 259. H

4 396. Crab et al. Orgebin-Crist, M. C. (1969) Studies n the functin f the epididymis. Bil. Reprd., Suppl. 1, 155. Russell, J. D., Stallcup, O. T. & Austin, C. R. (1967) Selective phagcytsis f spermatza in the epididymis f bulls, rabbits and mnkeys. Fert. Steril. 18, 509. Ra, A. R. (1971) Changes in the mrphlgy f sperm during their passage thrugh the genital tract in bulls with nrmal and impaired spermatgenesis. Thesis, Stckhlm. EXPLANATION OF PLATE 1 Fig. 1. Tw sperm heads (arrw) adjacent t the nucleus in an epithelial cell f an efferent ductule. Buins' fixatin, haemalum-esin Fig. 2. Pathlgical sperm head and tail in the cytplasm f a nn-ciliated cell. Glutaraldehyde-smium fixatin, electrn micrgraph. X 20,000. Fig. 3. Phagcytsed sperm head deterirating near the nucleus (N) f an epithelial cell Electrn micrgraph. X 16,000.

5 PLATE 1 (Facing p. 396)