Determining the effects of sperm activation in anuran cloaca on motility and DNA integrity in Epidalea calamita (Bufonidae)
Lucía Arregui
A D , Felipe Martinez-Pastor B C , Francisca Arroyo A and Jaime Gosálvez A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, C/Darwin 2, Madrid 28049, Spain.
B Institute of Animal Health and Cattle Development (INDEGSAL), Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, León 24071, Spain.
C Department of Molecular Biology (Cell Biology), Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, León 24071, Spain.
D Corresponding author. Email: lucia.arregui@gmail.com
Reproduction, Fertility and Development 34(5) 438-446 https://doi.org/10.1071/RD21063
Submitted: 16 February 2021 Accepted: 24 June 2021 Published: 17 August 2021
Abstract
The effect of time inside the animal’s cloaca on sperm quality after hormone-induced spermiation is unknown. However, this knowledge is critical for the development of assisted reproductive biotechnologies in amphibians. Out-of-season spermatozoa were collected from Epidalea calamita for 4 h after injection of 10 IU g−1 human chorionic gonadotrophin either hourly (Group I (n = 10); four samples per male) or every 2 h (Group II (n = 9); two samples per male). Sperm samples were assessed for motility and DNA integrity using the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) test and the sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA). The collection strategy affected total motility (mean (±s.e.m.) 84.4 ± 9.9% vs 73.6 ± 16.7% in Group I and II respectively; P = 0.014) and the sperm motility index (67.6 ± 17.7% vs 57.6 ± 16.3% in Group I and II respectively; P = 0.034). There was a significant effect of the male in Group II, but not in Group I. In Group I, the quality of the first samples collected was lower than that of samples collected thereafter (P ≤ 0.032). No significant correlations were found between the results of the SCD test and SCSA, showing that these techniques provide different information in this species. In conclusion, collecting spermatozoa every hour resulted in better sperm quality and may be more efficient. However, the between-male differences were considerable and collection of spermatozoa at just 1 h after hormone treatment produced lower-quality spermatozoa.
Keywords: amphibian, human chorionic gonadotrophin, Natterjack toad, sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD), sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA), spermatozoa.
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