Cargando…

Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size

Tomcats are considered to be adults at 1 year of age, although many reach sexual maturity at an earlier age. Nevertheless, we still know little about whether the spermatogenic activity and sperm quality of mature under one-year-old tomcats differ from those of tomcats that are over one-year-old. Thi...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pintus, Eliana, Kadlec, Martin, Karlasová, Barbora, Popelka, Marek, Ros-Santaella, José Luis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33799826
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10030624
_version_ 1783670619445919744
author Pintus, Eliana
Kadlec, Martin
Karlasová, Barbora
Popelka, Marek
Ros-Santaella, José Luis
author_facet Pintus, Eliana
Kadlec, Martin
Karlasová, Barbora
Popelka, Marek
Ros-Santaella, José Luis
author_sort Pintus, Eliana
collection PubMed
description Tomcats are considered to be adults at 1 year of age, although many reach sexual maturity at an earlier age. Nevertheless, we still know little about whether the spermatogenic activity and sperm quality of mature under one-year-old tomcats differ from those of tomcats that are over one-year-old. This study aims to evaluate the spermatogenic activity, sperm traits, and their relationships in mature tomcats at two different ages. Sixteen tomcats showing complete spermatogenesis and spermatozoa in their epididymal caudae were used and classified according to their age as post-pubertal (<1 year old) or adult (˃1 year old). Our results show that adult cats have higher epididymal sperm concentration and lower coefficient of variation in sperm head width and ellipticity than post-pubertal cats. However, they do not differ in their testicular and epididymal mass, spermatogenesis, and sperm traits such as motility, mitochondrial activity, morphology, morphometry, as well as plasma membrane, acrosome, and DNA integrity. Reduced intra-male variation of sperm head ellipticity is associated with higher testis mass, epididymis mass, and sperm concentration. Interestingly, low intra-male variation in sperm head size is associated with increased Sertoli cell function and reduced post-meiotic germ cell loss. These findings increase our knowledge about feline reproductive physiology and provide new insights into the functional significance of low intra-male variation in sperm size and shape in tomcats.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7998732
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-79987322021-03-28 Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size Pintus, Eliana Kadlec, Martin Karlasová, Barbora Popelka, Marek Ros-Santaella, José Luis Cells Article Tomcats are considered to be adults at 1 year of age, although many reach sexual maturity at an earlier age. Nevertheless, we still know little about whether the spermatogenic activity and sperm quality of mature under one-year-old tomcats differ from those of tomcats that are over one-year-old. This study aims to evaluate the spermatogenic activity, sperm traits, and their relationships in mature tomcats at two different ages. Sixteen tomcats showing complete spermatogenesis and spermatozoa in their epididymal caudae were used and classified according to their age as post-pubertal (<1 year old) or adult (˃1 year old). Our results show that adult cats have higher epididymal sperm concentration and lower coefficient of variation in sperm head width and ellipticity than post-pubertal cats. However, they do not differ in their testicular and epididymal mass, spermatogenesis, and sperm traits such as motility, mitochondrial activity, morphology, morphometry, as well as plasma membrane, acrosome, and DNA integrity. Reduced intra-male variation of sperm head ellipticity is associated with higher testis mass, epididymis mass, and sperm concentration. Interestingly, low intra-male variation in sperm head size is associated with increased Sertoli cell function and reduced post-meiotic germ cell loss. These findings increase our knowledge about feline reproductive physiology and provide new insights into the functional significance of low intra-male variation in sperm size and shape in tomcats. MDPI 2021-03-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7998732/ /pubmed/33799826 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10030624 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Article
Pintus, Eliana
Kadlec, Martin
Karlasová, Barbora
Popelka, Marek
Ros-Santaella, José Luis
Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title_full Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title_fullStr Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title_full_unstemmed Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title_short Spermatogenic Activity and Sperm Traits in Post-Pubertal and Adult Tomcats (Felis catus): Implication of Intra-Male Variation in Sperm Size
title_sort spermatogenic activity and sperm traits in post-pubertal and adult tomcats (felis catus): implication of intra-male variation in sperm size
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7998732/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33799826
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells10030624
work_keys_str_mv AT pintuseliana spermatogenicactivityandspermtraitsinpostpubertalandadulttomcatsfeliscatusimplicationofintramalevariationinspermsize
AT kadlecmartin spermatogenicactivityandspermtraitsinpostpubertalandadulttomcatsfeliscatusimplicationofintramalevariationinspermsize
AT karlasovabarbora spermatogenicactivityandspermtraitsinpostpubertalandadulttomcatsfeliscatusimplicationofintramalevariationinspermsize
AT popelkamarek spermatogenicactivityandspermtraitsinpostpubertalandadulttomcatsfeliscatusimplicationofintramalevariationinspermsize
AT rossantaellajoseluis spermatogenicactivityandspermtraitsinpostpubertalandadulttomcatsfeliscatusimplicationofintramalevariationinspermsize