Effect of transgenesis on reproductive traits of rabbit males.
The influence of foreign transgene integration on the reproductive capabilities of rabbit males is not known. Therefore, we analyzed their ejaculate characteristics, reproductive capabilities, occurrence of pathological spermatozoa and histological structure of the testis. We have generated transgenic rabbits by microinjection of WAP-hFVIII gene into pronucleus of fertilized egg. We observed that the libido, volume and pH value of the ejaculate did not differ significantly between transgenic and non-transgenic male lines. The motility, concentration, osmolarity, thermoresistant test of spermatozoa (at 1 or 6 h) and the percentage of alive spermatozoa were significantly different (p < 0.001) among transgenic and non-transgenic males. No significant differences were found between transgenic and non-transgenic male lines in the occurrence of pathological spermatozoa and histology of the testis. The ability of spermatozoa from transgenic and non-transgenic males to fertilize eggs was ranged within 96 and 100%; while the yield of transgenic embryos ranged from 43 to 57%. Our results show that mammary gland specific over-expression mWAP-hFVIII gene construct does not affect reproductive traits of transgenic rabbit males.
Chrenek
Peter
P
Slovak Agricultural Research Centre, Nitra, Slovak Republic. chrenekp@yahoo.com
Trandzik
Jozef
J
Massanyi
Peter
P
Makarevich
Alexander
A
Lukac
Norbert
N
Peskovicova
Dana
D
Paleyanda
Rekha
R
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D013737:Testis / Q000502:physiology