de Matos Brandão Carneiro Isabella, Bittencourt Rodrigo Freitas, Xavier Gleice Mendes, Costa Eduardo Oliveira, Dos Santos Correia Amanda Íris, Baptista Miguel Ferreira Bomfim, Mendes Rodrigo Ribeiro Machado, Barbosa Luiza Figueiredo, Dos Santos Mateus Martins Rodrigues, Santos Luciano Cardoso
Department of Anatomy, Pathology and Veterinary Clinics, School of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil.
Department of Veterinary Clinics, School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil.
Reprod Domest Anim. 2025 Sep;60(9):e70122. doi: 10.1111/rda.70122.
Characterising body and reproductive morphometry and their association with epididymal sperm quality can contribute to the conservation of sambar deer (Rusa unicolor). Five adult males maintained in captivity at the Getúlio Vargas Zoobotanical Park (Salvador, BA, Brazil) were captured, anaesthetised, and subjected to bilateral orchiectomy as part of a population-control strategy. Body measurements included head circumference, thoracic diameter, total length, withers height, and body weight. The length, width, thickness, and weight of the testes and epididymides were measured, and the gonadosomatic index was estimated. Spermatozoa were recovered from the epididymal tail by slicing and flotation, and their morphology, membrane integrity, and kinematic parameters were assessed using a computerised computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) system. Mean kinematic parameters were: total motility (80.61% ± 18.33%), progressive motility (54.95% ± 16.55%), average path velocity-VAP (60.58 ± 12.38 μm/s), and percentage of normal spermatozoa (77.80% ± 6.14%). Withers height showed significant positive correlations (p < 0.05) with most reproductive parameters, including testicular weight (r = 0.936), testicular volume (r = 0.936), testicular area (r = 0.878), epididymal thickness (r = 0.882), total sperm recovered (r = 0.939), progressive motility (r = 0.888), and percentage of normal spermatozoa (r = 0.968). Additionally, testicular volume, thickness, epididymal length, epididymal width, and epididymal thickness showed significant positive correlations (p < 0.05) with most of the sperm parameters studied. These findings provide important preliminary data for future investigations on the reproductive potential of this species.
描述身体和生殖形态测量及其与附睾精子质量的关联，有助于水鹿（Rusa unicolor）的保护。作为种群控制策略的一部分，在巴西巴伊亚州萨尔瓦多市的热图利奥·瓦加斯动植物园圈养的5只成年雄性水鹿被捕获、麻醉并接受双侧睾丸切除术。身体测量包括头围、胸径、体长、肩高和体重。测量了睾丸和附睾的长度、宽度、厚度和重量，并估算了性腺指数。通过切片和浮选从附睾尾部回收精子，并使用计算机辅助精液分析（CASA）系统评估其形态、膜完整性和运动参数。平均运动参数为：总活力（80.61%±18.33%）、前向运动活力（54.95%±16.55%）、平均路径速度-VAP（60.58±12.38μm/s）和正常精子百分比（77.80%±6.14%）。肩高与大多数生殖参数呈显著正相关（p<0.05），包括睾丸重量（r=0.936）、睾丸体积（r=0.936）、睾丸面积（r=0.878）、附睾厚度（r=0.882）、回收的精子总数（r=0.939）、前向运动活力（r=0.888）和正常精子百分比（r=0.968）。此外，睾丸体积、厚度、附睾长度、附睾宽度和附睾厚度与所研究的大多数精子参数呈显著正相关（p<0.05）。这些发现为该物种生殖潜力的未来研究提供了重要的初步数据。
