Semen, bull

Everett, R.W. 1982. Effects of Dursban 44 on semen output of Holstein bulls. Dairy Sci. 65 1781-1791. 

No effect on weight gain, serum testosterone at age 11 months, libido, sperm mobility, semen volume, and sperm concentration. No histopathology of liver, lung, kidney, or spleen. No tissue residues — except for one bull slaughtered at age 5 months <20 pg/kg FW in muscle, 20 in liver and kidney, 40 in subcutaneous fat, and 80 in renal and omental fat... 

Radioactivity ( H or "C-1,2-dibromoethane) was detected in spermatozoa collected approximately 1 week following the initial oral dose (Amir 1973). These results indicate that 1,2-dibromoethane exerts spermicidal action during the process of spermiogenesis and sperm maturation. This conclusion was supported by the evidence that the percentage of sperm abnormalities was highest when little 1,2-dibromoethane radioactivity could be detected in sperm. In addition, reduction in sperm concentration was more pronounced in adult bulls than in young bulls, and the period of recovery was longer in adult animals (Amir 1975). In another study, bulls were fed 2 mg/kg/day 1,2-dibromoethane for 12 months followed by 4 mg/kg 1,2-dibromoethane every other day until they reached the age of 14-16 months. The semen samples examined revealed low sperm density, structural abnormalities, and low mobility (Amir and Volcani 1965). Sperm production returned to normal as early as 10 days postexposure (Amir and Lavon 1976 Amir et al. 1977). 

Amir D, Volcani R. 1965. Effect of dietary ethylene dibromide on bull semen. Nature 206 99-100. 

Ono M, NodaN, Kawasaki T, Miyahara K (1990) Resin Glycosides. VII. Reinvestigation of the Component Organic and Glycosidic Acids of Pharbitin, the Crude Ether-Insoluble Resin Glycoside ( Convolvulin ) of Pharbitis Semen (Seeds of Pharbitis nil). Chem Pharm Bull 38 1892... 

Testicular atrophy in cattle was first reported by Jackson and Halbert, who maintained a bull aged 18 months on a PBB-contaminated diet for six weeks. Semen examination showed many headless and tail-less sperm and no sperm motility. The animal died within three weeks. 

As long ago as 1935, Kutscher and Wolbergs (K12) observed that semen and the prostate are among the richest sources of acid phosphatase in the human body. In a more recent survey (Bll) the acid phosphatase activities of seminal plasma in various species, determined as milligrams of nitrophenol liberated by 100 ml seminal plasma from 0.006 M p-nitrophenyl phosphate, in 60 minutes at 37°C and pH 4.9 were human, 274,000 cock, 15,000 turkey, 4000 bull, 570 rabbit 85. Human seminal plasma is made up by the secretory fluids produced in the epididymides, vasa deferentia, ampullae, seminal vesicles, the prostate and the bulbourethral (Cowper s) and urethral (Littre s) glands (M4). The semen contains many particulate bodies. Best known, of course, are the spermatozoa, which are formed in the seminiferous... 

Great advances have been made in cattle breeding in recent decades. Semen from superior bulls can be collected and stored in liquid nitrogen for 30 years or more. 

COFFEE, Coffeae semen Coffee is the roasted seed from different Coffea-sptcits, family Rubiaceae, such as Coffea arabica L., Coffea liberica Bull ex. Hierm. and Coffea robusta Lind., which originally gave Mountain coffee, Liberian coffee, and Congo coffee, respectively. Now coffee is cultivated on a... 

Considerable work has been done on cyclic AMP as a second messenger in the metabolic control of semen spermatozoa,122 123 as nucleotide concentration is closely correlated with motility of spermatozoa from boar, bull, cock, ram, and stallion. 

The phosphorylation of nucleosides with phosphorylchloride in di-methylformamid succeeds when the 2 3 -hydroxylgroups of the ribose moiety are masked with boric acid (35,36). The biological activity of the resulting 5 -nucleotides was tested by the enzymatic digestion with bull semen 5 -nucleotidase. 

Ion-exchange separation of such digests shows the presence of four major components corresponding to the adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine nucleotides." They are believed to be the four nucleoside 5 -phosphates for the following reasons Desoxyadenylic acid behaves identically with adenosine-5 -phosphate on the ion-exchange column. Desoxycytidylic acid and synthetic cytidine-5 -phosphate likewise behave in an identical fashion. All four desoxynucleotides are split by 5-nucleotidase purified from bull semen, which is specific for nucleotides containing phosphate esterified at carbon 5 (see below). Finally, desoxyadenylic acid yields ammonia on incubation with Schmidt s deaminase, which also acts on adenosine-5 -phosphate but not adenosine-3 -phosphate. 

The specificity of 5-nucleotidase from bull semen and snake venom requires the presence of a phosphate monoester group at carbon 5 and no other substitutions in the ribose moiety. For example, adenosine-5 -... 

Hyaluronate is dissolved in Mcllvaine sodium chloride buffer as previously described and then diluted to give the proper flow times. The enzyme, consisting of lyophilized rabbit and bull semen filtrates, is diluted in 0.5% gum arabic. Three Ostwald tubes of about 1.5 ml. capacity are used for each assay. All determinations are made at 34 °C. 

Assay by Reaction Rates. Lundquist (99) found that for low concentrations of hyaluronic acid in Mcllvaine sodium chloride buffer, the relative viscosity between 3 and 4 is approximately a straight-line function of the substrate concentration. In this viscosity range, the initial reaction rate is constant provided that the enzyme concentration is chosen to produce only 20% depolymerization. The activity of bull semen hyaluronidase was determined with several different substrate preparations. The assay results were in good agreement with the exception of one substrate fraction which was hydrolyzed six times slower than the other samples. The reaction rate constant was also used by Werthessen et al. (198) to determine hyaluronidase activity. 

The enzyme purified from bull semen dephosphorylates the 5 -phosphate esters of adenosine, uridine, cytidine, guanosine, nicotinamide riboside, and the 5 -phosphate esters of deoxynucleosides, but is inactive with adenosine pyrophosphates and substrates which bear other substituents on the ribose, e.g., adenosine 2, 5 -diphosphate (124). However 5 -nucleo-tidase from potato can hydrolyze the 5 -phosphate of this diphosphate... 

One tissue or secretion may contain a number of dephosphorylating enzymes. For instance it has been reported that there are two phosphatases with different pH optima in bull semen which release P from ATP, as well as a third enzyme which degrades ATP to AMP and PP (127). 

Animal husbandry application. In recent years, the use of artificial insemination to breed cattle has grown to be a major means of meeting the increased demand for beef products in this country. Large amounts of bull semen are stored and preserved in a frozen state for extended periods of time. The cold chamber can maintain the frozen state indefinitely and thus finds its application in central storage areas where the semen may be stored in large quantities for redistribution. 

Hypotaurine does not occur in the semen of all species of animals. We ourselves could show it in boar, bull, stallion and ram semen in well measurable amounts, but we could not detect it in turkey semen, in cock semen and also not in human semen. When hypotaurine was not found, cysteine appeared to be present. In turkey semen cysteine occurs exclusively inside the spermatozoa (Litjens and Horst, 1973). 

Ishibashi H, Ishida H, Matsuoka M et al (2007) Estrogenic effects of fluorotelomer alcohols for human estrogen receptor isoforms alpha and beta in vitro. Biol Pharm Bull 30(7) 1358-1359 Joensen UN, Bossi R, Leffers H et al (2009) Do perfluoroalkyl compounds impair human semen quality Environ Health Perspect 117(6) 923-927 Johansson N, Fredriksson A, Eriksson P (2008) Neonatal exposure to perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) causes neurobehavioural defects in adult mice. Neurotoxicology 29(1) 160-169... 

In addition to blood, animal semen is also stored cryogenically. For example, over 5 million dairy cattle per year are bred with cryogenic frozen semen in the U.S. alone. One prize bull, Achilles, has sired more than 300,000 calves. In perhaps an odd use of cryogenics, the branding of cattle using a cryogenic iron has been used for many years. 

Eoote, R. H. Resazurin reduction and other tests of semen quality and fertility of bulls. Asian J. Androl. 1999,1, 109-114. 

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