What is it about?
The most important cells in the testis, in terms of the number and quality of sperm cells produced, are the Sertoli cells that 'nurse' the sperm as they develop. With poor nutrition, the testis shrinks in response to various hormonal systems (most controlled at brain level). The loss of testis mass is accompanied by changes in the molecular processes in the Sertoli cells that control the rate of sperm cell death (apoptosis), so fewer sperm are produced, as well as the quality of the DNA inside the sperm nucleus, so the surviving sperm have damaged DNA. Therefore, even though there are enough sperm in the ejaculate for fertility to appear normal, those sperm swim poorly and have damaged DNA.
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Why is it important?
These processes in testis biology were discovered using the male sheep as an experimental model. The implications for fertility of other species, including humans, are not yet clear. However, for the sheep industry, it is clear that we need to be farm more careful about the nutrition of rams in the 2 months leading to the mating season.
Perspectives
Studies such as this show the great value in experimentation with a responsive animal model that offers experimental power, thus permitting basic discoveries in reproductive biology, and that is also an industry animal so the research can be quickly adopted and thus change practice.
Professor Graeme Bruce Martin
University of Western Australia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cellular and molecular responses of adult testis to changes in nutrition: novel insights from the sheep model, Reproduction, October 2017, Bioscientifica,
DOI: 10.1530/rep-17-0061.
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