Reproduction Abstracts

Dairy herd fertility is in decline and poses a significant economic problem, with associated animal welfare concerns. One factor that may contribute to this decline is exposure to environmental chemicals (ECs) some of which have endocrine disrupting activity and have been linked to declining fertility in other species. We hypothesised that ECs are present in bovine ovarian tissue at levels able to perturb luteal development and function. The tissue content of DEHP and a panel ...

Introduction: Environmental chemicals (ECs) are associated with an increased incidence of testicular cancer and reduced sperm quality. Regional differences are thought to reflect different levels of EC exposure. Since the dog is a sentinel of human exposure, we hypothesised that geographical variation in testicular chemical profiles may be associated with altered reproductive development and/or function.Methods: Canine adult testes (routine castrations) ...

Introduction: Declining human and canine male fertility has been associated with exposure to environmental chemicals (ECs). We investigated the effects of ECs on canine and human sperm vitality, motility, and morphology.Methods: Mean canine testicular levels (MTL) of PCB153 and DEHP were 0.9±0.14 μg/kg (n=8) and 0.31±0.03 μg/g (n=5) respectively. Spermatozoa from dogs (n=7) and human donations (n=9,...

Introduction: A temporal decline in canine male fertility parallels that reported in the human. Our hypothesis is that this is associated with exposure to environmental chemicals (ECs). We investigated i) a relationship between canine testicular chemical profiles and Sertoli cell numbers and ii) the effects of testicular concentrations of chemicals on sperm DNA fragmentation, motility and vitality.Methods: Canine adult testes (routine castrations) from t...