New technologies for testicular and semen assessment

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New technologies for testicular and semen
assessment

• György Gábor
• Research Institute For Animal Breeding and
  Nutrition
• HERCEGHALOM, HUNGARY

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Introduction

• The aim of the examinations is
• to determine if ultrasonic echotexture is
  associated with semen production of bulls and
  boars
• to select those young bulls which are certainly
  not useful for the AI before the semen
  examination
• check semen quality by an objective instrument
  method (dog, bull, boar, ram)
• develop a bull andrological data base

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Material and Methods

• Examined animals
• H-F AI bulls 6-18 months of age in several
  examinations between 1998 and 2000
• breeding boars (different breeds) 10-60 months of
  age between 1998-2000
• breeding male dogs (different breeds) 14-86
  months of age between 1999-2000
• Morphological examinations
• scrotal circumference (SC) Coulter scrotal tape
  (bulls)
• scrotal form digital camera (bulls, boars
  storing format jpg)
• testicular consistency (Consitest electronic
  tonometer bull, boar)

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Coulter Scrotal Tape
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Scrotal forms (bulls)
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Scrotal forms (boars)
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Examination of the testicular echotexture (bull,
boar, dog)

• The ultrasonic examination of the testes was done
  with a B-mode scanner (Pie Medical, Model 100 LC
  VET) with an 8 MHz linear-array transducer. Gain
  was held constant for all examinations.
• The transducer was aligned at the center of each
  testis and perpendicular to the vertical axis. A
  custom, electro-mechanical device for holding the
  probe was used to assure that the same pressure
  was applied by the probe against tissues upon
  which liberal amounts of ultrasound coupling gel
  had been applied (except with dogs).
• At approximately 0.8 kg/cm2 pressure a
  spring-loaded switch was compressed. At that
  instance, the ultrasound image was frozen on the
  scanner and the image was stored.

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Examination of the ET by the help of an
electronic (auto image freezing function)
transducers holder
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Consitest electronic tonometer (bull, boar)

• The spring loaded measuring heads use 1500 grams
  of pressure at all times. Because of the
  difference in dimension of the two heads (13),
  the penetration to the observed tissue will be
  different. The transmission changes from a linear
  movement to a circular movement. A rotating code
  disk interrupts the infrared light, which counts
  the impulses for the microprocessor, which then
  summarizes the results and presents it on the
  display.

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Evaluation of the echotexture (ET) by Scanner 100
left testis
right testis

• The ultrasonic images of left and right testicles
  are recorded on disk. The average gray level were
  characterized on a 256 gray scale 0 (dark) and
  255 (light).

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TesTracto software (developed for the data base)
was used for the evaluation of the ultrasonic ET
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New New development of the software distribution
evaluation of the gray levels
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Ultrasonic examination of the prostate in dogs
Diametergt5.5 cm
Echodenz spot
Echo poor area
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Semen samples and evaluation

• Samples
• fresh boar
• frozen bull, dog
• Evaluation
• the total number of spermatozoa per ejaculate
  (TNS), the percentage of the live and motile
  spermatozoa by CASPAR software (Makler chamber
  was used to keep the 10 mm depth)

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Using CASPAR for the semen evaluation
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Statistical analysis

• Mean values and Person correlation coefficients
• true positive and negative diagnosis
• false positive and negative diagnosis
• positive prediction value

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Results1. Morphological and semen (CASA) data
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2. Correlation coefficients and probabilities
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3. Correlation coefficients and probabilities for
H-F bulls with visually examined semen data (n88)
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4. Categories of diagnosis (just for bulls)

• Based on SC, ET and TM. Examination of the bulls
  was performed at least 2 months prior to the
  semen production.
• Semen was measured for at least 2 months after
  the beginning of the semen production SV, SD,
  TSN
• NP - No predicted semen production problem
• PP - Possible predicted semen production problem
• NUAI - Prediction not useful as a breeding bull

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5. Prediction results in 1998
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6. Prediction results in 1999
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Possible reasons of the incorrect predictions
Calcification. Dg. PP normal semen production
6 months later
Small SC (20 cm at 8 months of age normal SC size
(32 cm) and semen production4 months later
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Possible reasons of the rejection
Cryptorchidism
Left testis orchitis right testis fibrosis
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Results of the dog semen freezing
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Conclusions

• The morphological parameters (SC and ET, possibly
  TM) of testis and scrotum reflect semen
  measurement.
• Andrological data bases for males help define the
  gold standards of these markers at different
  age levels prior to semen production and assist
  in identifying young bulls which are not useful
  to the AI industry.