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From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram

Males can adjust sperm motility instantaneously in response to the perceived risk of sperm competition. The speed of this response suggests that sperm motility is regulated by changes in seminal plasma rather than changes in the sperm cells themselves. Hence, here we test whether inter-ejaculate var...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Green, Christine, Rickard, Jessica P., de Graaf, Simon P., Crean, Angela J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7168205/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32085377
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9020033
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author Green, Christine
Rickard, Jessica P.
de Graaf, Simon P.
Crean, Angela J.
author_facet Green, Christine
Rickard, Jessica P.
de Graaf, Simon P.
Crean, Angela J.
author_sort Green, Christine
collection PubMed
description Males can adjust sperm motility instantaneously in response to the perceived risk of sperm competition. The speed of this response suggests that sperm motility is regulated by changes in seminal plasma rather than changes in the sperm cells themselves. Hence, here we test whether inter-ejaculate variation in seminal plasma can be used to alter sperm quality prior to use in assisted reproductive technologies. We supplemented fresh ejaculates of Merino rams with seminal plasma collected from previous ‘donor’ ejaculates to test whether changes in sperm kinetics were related to the relative quality of donor to focal ejaculates. We found a positive relationship between the change in sperm traits before and after supplementation, and the difference in sperm traits between the donor and focal ejaculate. Hence, sperm motility can be either increased or decreased through the addition of seminal plasma from a superior or inferior ejaculate, respectively. This positive relationship held true even when seminal plasma was added from a previous ejaculate of the same ram, although the slope of the relationship depended on the identity of both the donor and receiver ram. These findings indicate that seminal plasma plays a key role in the control and regulation of sperm kinetics, and that sperm kinetic traits can be transferred from one ejaculate to another through seminal plasma supplementation.
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spelling pubmed-71682052020-04-21 From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram Green, Christine Rickard, Jessica P. de Graaf, Simon P. Crean, Angela J. Biology (Basel) Article Males can adjust sperm motility instantaneously in response to the perceived risk of sperm competition. The speed of this response suggests that sperm motility is regulated by changes in seminal plasma rather than changes in the sperm cells themselves. Hence, here we test whether inter-ejaculate variation in seminal plasma can be used to alter sperm quality prior to use in assisted reproductive technologies. We supplemented fresh ejaculates of Merino rams with seminal plasma collected from previous ‘donor’ ejaculates to test whether changes in sperm kinetics were related to the relative quality of donor to focal ejaculates. We found a positive relationship between the change in sperm traits before and after supplementation, and the difference in sperm traits between the donor and focal ejaculate. Hence, sperm motility can be either increased or decreased through the addition of seminal plasma from a superior or inferior ejaculate, respectively. This positive relationship held true even when seminal plasma was added from a previous ejaculate of the same ram, although the slope of the relationship depended on the identity of both the donor and receiver ram. These findings indicate that seminal plasma plays a key role in the control and regulation of sperm kinetics, and that sperm kinetic traits can be transferred from one ejaculate to another through seminal plasma supplementation. MDPI 2020-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC7168205/ /pubmed/32085377 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9020033 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Green, Christine
Rickard, Jessica P.
de Graaf, Simon P.
Crean, Angela J.
From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title_full From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title_fullStr From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title_full_unstemmed From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title_short From One Ejaculate to Another: Transference of Sperm Traits via Seminal Plasma Supplementation in the Ram
title_sort from one ejaculate to another: transference of sperm traits via seminal plasma supplementation in the ram
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7168205/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32085377
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biology9020033
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