Effect of Heat Stress on Sperm DNA: Protamine Assessment in Ram Spermatozoa and Testicle.

ABSTRACT: Sperm DNA fragmentation is considered one of the main causes of male infertility. The most accepted causes of sperm DNA damage are deleterious actions of reactive oxygen species (ROS), defects in protamination, and apoptosis. Ram sperm are highly prone to those damages due to the high susceptibility to ROS and to oxidative stress caused by heat stress. We aimed to evaluate the effects of heat stress on the chromatin of ejaculated and epididymal sperm and the activation of apoptotic pathways in different cell types in ram testis. We observed higher percentages of ejaculated sperm with increased chromatin fragmentation in the heat stress group; a fact that was unexpectedly not observed in epididymal sperm. Heat stress group presented a higher percentage of spermatozoa with DNA fragmentation

SUBMITTER: Hamilton TRDS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5889875 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature