Assessment of the accuracy of testicular dysfunction detection in male donkey (Equus asinus) with the aid of colour‐spectral Doppler in relation to plasma testosterone and serum nitric oxide levels

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the usefulness of colour and pulsed Doppler modes for the accurate diagnosis of donkeys suffering from subfertility to determine whether testicular vascularity assessment could be an indicator for sperm functionality. The study sample was composed of 10 male donkeys with normospermia (control group) and 10 donkeys with hypospermia. Animals underwent scrotal circumference measurement, testicular Doppler examination, seminal evaluation, blood sampling and hormonal assay. Semen volume and concentration were significantly (p≤.05) lower in the subfertile group (30.25±1.22ml and 89.44±2.55×106 /ml) as compared with the control group (82.76±1.65ml and 452.78±1.25×106 /ml), and total sperm/ejaculation was significantly (p≤.05) higher in the normal donkeys (28.30±2.32×109 /total ejaculated) as compared with the subfertile group. Intratesticular coloured area showed a marked decline in the hypospermic males. There was no significant difference between the two groups in testosterone level, although the normal group showed an increase in nitric oxide metabolites. Both Doppler indices of the three branches of the testicular artery were elevated significantly (p≤.05) in abnormal donkeys, whereas Doppler peak systolic and end-diastolic velocities were increased in the normal group. Male donkeys with subfertility demonstrated lower arterial vascularity parameters in the form of intratesticular coloured area and blood flow rate; therefore, the most optimal parameters for differentiating subfertile hypospermic from normospermic donkeys were found to be the two Doppler indices, velocities parameters, testicular blood flow rate and nitric oxide levels.