The correlation between spermatozoa morphometry and the testosterone levels in the epididymis of aceh cow

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the correlation between spermatozoa morphometry and testosterone concentration in the epididymal caput, corpus, and cauda of aceh cattle. The epididymal sperm swab slides were stained using Williams's staining to examined the morphology and morphometry of spermatozoa whereas the level of testosterone from epididymal caput, corpus, and cauda extract was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The data of sperm morphology were presented descriptively whereas the data of sperm morphometry and testosterone concentration were analyzed using one way ANOVA. Pearson correlation test was conducted to know the correlation between the total length of spermatozoa (TLS) and testosterone concentration in three parts of epididymis. The result showed that the sperm morphology in caput, corpus, and cauda of epididymis was not different statistically. The TLS of aceh cattle at caput, corpus, and cauda epididymis were 69,70±0,8 µm, 70,90±0.39 µm, and 72,98±0.74 µm respectively and statistically different (p<0.05). In addition, the concentration of testosterone in caput, corpus, and cauda epididymis were 9,92±3,76 ng/g, 16.96±13,22 ng/g, and 15,63±11.80 ng/g respectively and also not different among three parts of epididymis (p>0.05). The positive correlation (r= 0.413, p= 0.416) was found between TLS and testosterone concentration at caput whereas in corpus and cauda those correlation were negative and not different (corpus: r= -0.638, p= 0.172 and cauda: r= -0.719, p= 0,108). In conclusion, the longest-sized spermatozoa found in the cauda epididymis are mature spermatozoa where the maturation process optimally takes place in caput epididymis. Testosterone found in the epididymis of aceh cow can be used as an alternative source of testosterone.