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ETHANE DIMETHANESULPHONATE-INDUCED DECREASE IN THE FERTILIZING ABILITY OF CAUDA EPIDIDYMAL SPERM IS INDEPENDENT OF THE TESTIS
Citation:
Klinefelter, G., J. Laskey, S. Perreault, J. Ferrell, S. Jeffay, J. Suarez, AND N. Roberts. ETHANE DIMETHANESULPHONATE-INDUCED DECREASE IN THE FERTILIZING ABILITY OF CAUDA EPIDIDYMAL SPERM IS INDEPENDENT OF THE TESTIS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-94/543.
Description:
Decades ago it was reported that when adult male rats were exposed to a single injection of 50 mg/kg ethane dimethanesulphonate (EDS) and mated with untreated females, average litter size was significantly reduced as early as two weeks later. ecently, we demonstrated that EDS exerts multiple effects in the epididymis of adult rats. erein, we sought to determine whether EDS perturbs the ability of epididymal sperm to acquire fertilizing ability. ohorts of adult females were synchronized with an LHRH agonist and selected for in utero insemination. our days after exposure to 50mg/kg EDS, sperm from the proximal cauda epididymides were injected into the uterine horns of the recipient females. he next day, the percentage of fertilized oviductal eggs was determined. xogenous T administration and castration were used to determine what role, if any, androgen deprivation and the testis had on the ability of the sperm in the proximal cauda epididymides to fertilize eggs. arious endpoints including sperm motion parameters, serum T, T in the caput/corpus epididymides, and detergent-extracted sperm protein were measured and correlated with fertilizing ability. e found that both castration and EDS exposure significantly compromised the fertilizing ability of sperm in proximal cauda epididymides in four days, and that this effect was independent of the testis. he only endpoint that was well-correlated with fertilizing ability was the relative amount of an 18 kD sperm protein.