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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 22(7)

Inherited sperm head abnormalities in the B10.M mouse strain

Hideo Gotoh
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- Author Affiliations

Reproductive Biology Unit, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, 1-2 Owashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8634, Japan. Email: gotoh@affrc.go.jp

Reproduction, Fertility and Development 22(7) 1066-1073 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD09295
Submitted: 15 December 2009  Accepted: 8 February 2010   Published: 20 August 2010

Abstract

Examination of sperm head morphology is one of the requisite tests of the functional capacity of semen in reproduction. In the present study, genetic effects on morphological sperm head abnormalities in mice were investigated. The frequency of abnormal spermatozoa was determined in 17 inbred mouse strains and it was found that strain B10.M had the highest frequency of abnormal spermatozoa (44.7%). Segregation analysis was then used to show that the abnormal sperm phenotype in B10.M mice was inherited. The results indicated that this sperm abnormality was controlled by two distinct recessive alleles. It is proposed that the high frequency of the heritable abnormal sperm phenotype in the mouse B10.M strain explains the subfertility of this strain, as evidenced by its reduced litter size.

Additional keyword: genetic analysis.


Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the assistance of Mr Akihiko Mita, Mrs Michiyo Aoyama, Mr Heiichi Uchiyama and Mr Kameo Tsukada with the experiments. This work was supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Japan.


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