title: Sperm DNA quality evaluated by comet assay and sperm chromatin structure assay in stallions after unilateral orchiectomy.
abstract: Unilateral orchiectomy (UO) may interfere with thermoregulation of the remaining testis caused by inflammation surrounding the incision site, thus altering normal spermatogenesis and consequently sperm quality. Two measures of sperm DNA quality (neutral comet assay and the sperm chromatin structure assay [SCSA]) were compared before UO (0 days) and at 14, 30, and 60 days after UO to determine whether sperm DNA changed after a mild testis stress (i.e., UO). The percent DNA in the comet tail was higher at 14 and 60 days compared to 0 days (P < 0.05) after UO. All other comet tail measures (i.e., length, moment, migration) were higher at all time periods after UO compared to 0 days (P < 0.05). Two SCSA measures (mean-αt, mode-αt) increased at 14 days after UO (P < 0.05), whereas two measures (SD-αt and COMP-αt) did not change. This study identified a decrease in sperm DNA quality using both the neutral comet assay and the SCSA, which was not identified using traditional measures of sperm quality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples "Federico II", College Station, Naples, Italy. Electronic address: rosanna.serafini@gmail.com.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Serafini
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Varner
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bissett
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Blanchard
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Teague
authors.affiliation: Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Love
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020552:Comet Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D004249:DNA Damage; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D009919:Orchiectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000662:veterinary*; D055101:Semen Analysis / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin
keywords: Comet; DNA; Sperm; Stallion; Testis