title: Testicular degeneration in a male goat. A case report.
abstract: Semen samples from an 18-month-old infertile Lamancha buck contained less than 10% motile spermatozoa and a high incidence of morphological abnormalities. Degenerate detached heads, tightly coiled tails, and thickened midpieces were the prominent morphological defects, affecting 46%, 30%, and 15% of ejaculated spermatozoa, respectively. At necropsy, the diagnosis of testicular degeneration was made, characterized by focal, noninflammatory seminiferous tubule occlusion and mineralization, with a more generalized sloughing of tubular germinal epithelium. When examining spermatozoa morphology from various sites of the excurrent ducts, detached heads were readily seen in efferent duct fluid (> 30% incidence) and the coiled tails and other midpiece defects became prominent with passage through the caput epididymis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1314 USA.
authors.forename: K R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Refsal
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Gunther