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Title: TESTICULAR MORPHOLOGY AND FUNCTION IN CROSSBRED MEISHAN X WHITE COMPOSITE BOARS THAT HAVE EITHER HIGH OR LOW SERUM FSH CONCENTRATIONS

Author
item ZANELLA, ERALDO - UNIV. NEBRASKA, LINCOLN
item Lunstra, Donald
item Wise, Thomas
item KINDER, JAMES - UNIV. NEBRASKA, LINCOLN
item Ford, Johny

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science Supplement
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the morphological characteristics and testicular function of boars with different endogenous concentrations of FSH. Testis from 16 mature boars (14.5 months of age) that were classified with in half-sib families according to their serum FSH concentration [high FSH (HiFSH) > 500 ng/ml, n=9 or low FSH (loFSH) < 500 ng/ml, n=7] were fixed, sectioned at 0.5 mm and evaluated for morphologica characteristics. Boars with LoFSH had larger (p<0.01) paired testicular and epididymal wt (524 +/- 53; 132 +/- 11 g) than boars with HiFSH (313 +/- 44; 96 +/- 9 g), and boars with LoFSH had greater (p<0.01) daily sperm production per g of testis (x11,000,000) and total daily sperm production per paired testis (x11,000,000,000) than did boars with HiFSH (31 and 15 vs 22 and 7, respectively). Testis of boars with LoFSH had a greater (p<0.03) percentage of seminiferous tubules (77% vs 66%), a lower percentage (p<0.03) of Leydig cells (13 vs 19%) and a somewhat lower (p=0.06) percentage of vascular structures than boars with HiFSH. Testis of boars with LoFSH had greater (p<0.01) total tubule volume and tubule length (401 vs 211 cc and 4181 vs 1738 m) per paired testis than boars with HiFSH, respectively. There were no differences (p>0.70) in volume, diameter or total number of Leydig cells, as well as total interstitial volume (p>0.41). Testosterone production in vitro per paired testis (211 vs 271 ug) and per million Leydig cells (6.4 vs 8.4 ng) were not different (p>0.65) among boars with HiFSH and LoFSH. Higher concentrations of FSH were negatively associated with the development of seminiferous tubules and spermatogenic efficiency; whereas Leydig cell development was not different in these two groups of boars.