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Rodríguez-Pena E, Suárez D, Estévez-Pérez G, Verísimo P, Barreira N, Fernández L, González-Tizón A, Martínez-Lage A. Influence of Storage Time on the DNA Integrity and Viability of Spermatozoa of the Spider Crab Maja brachydactyla. Animals (Basel) 2023; 13:3555. [PMID: 38003172 PMCID: PMC10668756 DOI: 10.3390/ani13223555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2023] [Revised: 11/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Natural populations of the spider crab Maja brachydactyla constitute a fishery resource of great economic importance in many countries. As in the rest of eubrachyurans, the females of this species have ventral-type seminal receptacles where they store sperm from copulations. Sperm can be stored in these structures for months and even years before egg fertilisation, with the consequent degradation of the sperm cells during the time. In this work, we analyse the viability and the possible genetic damage in sperm accumulated in the seminal receptacles of M. brachydactyla females as a function of the storage time (from 0 to 14 months) using the comet assay technique. On one hand, we developed an algorithm for comet image analysis that improves the comet segmentation compared with the free software Open comet v1.3.1 (97% vs. 76% of detection). In addition, our software allows the manual modification of the contours wrongly delimited via the automatic tool. On the other hand, our data show a sharp decline in sperm viability and DNA integrity in the first four months of storage, which could lead to a decrease in the fecundity rate and/or viability of the embryos or larvae from the second and third clutches of the annual cycle if the repair capacity in these gametic cells is low.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elba Rodríguez-Pena
- CICA (Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía), University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; (E.R.-P.); (A.G.-T.)
| | - Diego Suárez
- Department of Computer Science, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; (D.S.); (N.B.)
| | | | - Patricia Verísimo
- Centro Oceanográfico de Santander (IEO-CSIC), 39004 Santander, Spain;
| | - Noelia Barreira
- Department of Computer Science, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; (D.S.); (N.B.)
- CITIC (Research Center of Information and Communication Technologies), University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
| | - Luis Fernández
- Department of Biology, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain;
| | - Ana González-Tizón
- CICA (Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía), University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; (E.R.-P.); (A.G.-T.)
- Department of Biology, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain;
| | - Andrés Martínez-Lage
- CICA (Centro Interdisciplinar de Química e Bioloxía), University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain; (E.R.-P.); (A.G.-T.)
- Department of Biology, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain;
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Ribas-Maynou J, Nguyen H, Valle R, Wu H, Yeste M, Ward WS. Sperm degradation after vasectomy follows a sperm chromatin fragmentation dependent mechanism causing DNA breaks in the toroid linker regions. Mol Hum Reprod 2022; 29:6656359. [PMID: 35929777 PMCID: PMC9422300 DOI: 10.1093/molehr/gaac029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2022] [Revised: 07/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Vasectomy is a widely used surgical technique creating an obstructive azoospermia. Although sperm cannot be ejaculated, the testis maintains sperm production in vasectomized males. The continuous accumulation of sperm deposited in the epididymis and the vas deferens fraction necessarily need to be degraded and eliminated. While the elimination process is carried out by granulomas that form after vasectomy, the detailed mechanisms of sperm degradation are still not known. The aim was to assess whether sperm chromatin fragmentation (SCF), a mechanism that degrades the entire sperm genome at the toroid linker regions (TLRs), is activated after vasectomy in sperm cells. We vasectomized mice and evaluated the presence of TLR-specific double-strand breaks through pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and the Comet assay at 1, 2 and 3 weeks after surgery. Results for DNA damage (Olive tail moment) at single-cell level showed an increase of double-strand breaks after vasectomy for vas deferens sperm after 1, 2 and 3 weeks postvasectomy (21.78 ± 2.29; 19.71 ± 1.79 and 32.59 ± 1.81, respectively), compared to mock surgery (7.04 ± 1.03; 10.10 ± 1.29 and 8.64 ± 0.85, respectively; P < 0.001). Similar findings were obtained for cauda epididymis sperm (P < 0.001), but not for caput epididymis (P > 0.05). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed the presence of double-stranded breaks between 15 and 145 kb, indicating that DNA breaks were produced mainly in the sperm TLRs. Results presented here suggest that SCF is a mechanism activated in vas deferens after vasectomy to degrade sperm DNA when they cannot be ejaculated, preventing their function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordi Ribas-Maynou
- Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.,Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.,Department Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Hieu Nguyen
- Department Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Raquel Valle
- Department Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Hongwen Wu
- Department Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Marc Yeste
- Unit of Cell Biology, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.,Biotechnology of Animal and Human Reproduction (TechnoSperm), Institute of Food and Agricultural Technology, University of Girona, Girona, Spain.,Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, ES-08010, Spain
| | - W Steven Ward
- Department Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, Institute for Biogenesis Research, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA.,Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women's Health, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
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