Bodu Mustafa, Hitit Mustafa, Sari Ayse, Kirbas Mesut, Bulbul Bulent, Ataman Mehmet Bozkurt, Bucak Mustafa Numan, Parrish John, Kaya Abdullah, Memili Erdogan
Cooperative Agricultural Research Center, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX, United States.
Department of Reproduction and Artificial Insemination, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya, Türkiye.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 May 19;12:1577004. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1577004. eCollection 2025.
The aim of this study is to analyze DNA integrity, shape morphology, and membrane integrity in sperm from low-fertility (LF) and adequate- or normal-fertility (AF) rams. Various sperm evaluation methods such as sperm chromatin dispersion assay, Fourier harmonic amplitude (FHA) analysis, and other image analysis of morphometric parameters were used. An additional aim is to employ new statistical models with high reliability to predict ram fertility based on sperm head morphology parameters. Fresh semen was collected from 41 AF (conception rate 95.1% ± 0.6%) and 27 LF (conception rate 79.7% ± 2.5%) rams using artificial vagina. Differences ( < 0.05) were observed in percent motile sperm (mean ± SEM, 64% ± 3%, 72% ± 2%), percent viable sperm (78 ± 2%, 84 ± 1%), and head and acrosome abnormalities (1.9% ± 0.4%, 3.4% ± 0.4%) between LF and AF rams. The findings of different analyses also showed that the fertility of rams is not associated with DNA fragmentation ( > 0.05). Using the FHA analysis, an average head shape of ram sperm was constructed and harmonic amplitude 2 was determined, which tended to differ between the two ram fertility groups ( = 0.059). Based on the FHA and morphometric analysis, a significant linear discriminant model was constructed ( = 0.0013), which allowed for specificity in identifying LF rams (6/9, 66.7%) and sensitivity in identifying AF rams (39/47, 83.0%). The overall error rate remained good, which was 11/56 (20%). The findings of this study suggest that sperm DNA damage might not be used to predict ram fertility and that the statistical model based on the FHA analysis can be a potential tool in predicting ram fertility.
本研究的目的是分析低生育力(LF)和生育力正常或充足(AF)的公羊精子的DNA完整性、形态形态和膜完整性。使用了各种精子评估方法,如精子染色质扩散试验、傅里叶谐波振幅(FHA)分析以及其他形态计量学参数的图像分析。另一个目的是采用具有高可靠性的新统计模型,根据精子头部形态参数预测公羊的生育力。使用人工阴道从41只AF(受孕率95.1%±0.6%)和27只LF(受孕率79.7%±2.5%)公羊中采集新鲜精液。在LF和AF公羊之间,观察到活动精子百分比(平均值±标准误,64%±3%,72%±2%)、活精子百分比(78±2%,84±1%)以及头部和顶体异常(1.9%±0.4%,3.4%±0.4%)存在差异(<0.05)。不同分析的结果还表明,公羊的生育力与DNA片段化无关(>0.05)。通过FHA分析,构建了公羊精子的平均头部形状并确定了谐波振幅2,这在两个公羊生育力组之间存在差异趋势(=0.059)。基于FHA和形态计量学分析,构建了一个显著线性判别模型(=0.0013),该模型在识别LF公羊时具有特异性(6/9,66.7%),在识别AF公羊时具有敏感性(39/47,83.0%)。总体错误率保持良好,为11/56(20%)。本研究结果表明,精子DNA损伤可能无法用于预测公羊生育力,基于FHA分析的统计模型可能是预测公羊生育力的潜在工具。