Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Frozen-thawed sperm quality in dogs with prostate enlargement
By Flores, Renato Bueno et al.·Published in Frontiers in veterinary science·2022·Department of Animal Reproduction, Brazil·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Frozen-Thawed Sperm Analysis of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Dogs Treated With Finasteride.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of older male dogs with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition that causes prostate enlargement and can affect fertility, were studied to see how their sperm quality was impacted by treatment with finasteride, a medication that reduces prostate size. The results showed that while untreated BPH dogs had more damaged sperm DNA, those treated with finasteride had better sperm movement and higher functional performance after freezing and thawing their semen. This suggests that finasteride may help improve the reproductive potential of these dogs, making them suitable for use in breeding programs.
People also search for: dog prostate enlargement treatment · finasteride for dog BPH · frozen dog sperm quality
Abstract
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a pathological condition that directly interferes with the reproductive potential of senile dogs, by leading to prostate enlargement and sperm injury, which in turn may compromise sperm freezeability. Moreover, albeit finasteride treatment reduces prostatic volume and blood supply and maintains seminal quality and testicular integrity, the effects of sperm samples submitted to cryopreservation after the finasteride treatment are still unknown. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate frozen-thawed semen of BPH dogs, as well as dogs subjected to BPH pharmacological treatment with finasteride. For such purpose, 20 dogs were previously selected and assigned to three experimental groups, according to BPH diagnosis and treatment with finasteride: Control (= 9), BPH Group (= 5) and BPH-Finasteride Group (= 6). Semen was subjected to one-step cryopreservation protocol with tris-fructose-citric acid extender with 5% glycerol and thawed at 37°C for 30 sec. Fresh and post-thaw sperm samples were evaluated for macroscopic parameters, sperm concentration, sperm motility kinetics, sperm mitochondrial activity and potential, oxidative stress, plasmatic and acrosome membrane integrity, sperm DNA fragmentation and sperm binding test on perivitelic membrane of chicken egg yolk. Regarding fresh semen, BPH-Finasteride group had the lowest ejaculate visual aspect (opacity), higher frequency of sperm flagellar beating (BCF) and percentage of sperm with medium velocity. Control group had the highest percentage of sperm DNA integrity compared to BPH group. For the frozen-thawed semen, Control group presented the highest percentage of spermatozoa with high mitochondrial activity. However, the BPH-Finasteride group showed higher number of sperm bound to the perivitelline membrane of chicken egg yolk compared to the BPH Group. Conversely, BPH group had higher percentage of DNA damage. In conclusion, the ejaculate of BPH dogs has higher susceptibility to cryoinjury, whereas finasteride-treated dogs have increased spermatozoa functional performance, suggesting a promising use of BPH dogs as semen donors in sperm cryopreservation programs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35847633/