Abstract
The present study was carried out on forty eight epididymis of sexually mature dogs to elucidate light microscope features and the presence of testosterone receptors inside epididymis in different seasons. Twenty four dogs aged 3 years were used during the periods from 1/2/2015-1/2/2016. The epididymis were carefully dissected from the testis after orchidectomy operations and fixed, dehydrated, clarified and embedded in paraffin. Sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and periodic acid schiff. As well as, paraffin embedded cytoimmunochemistry technique was used for detection of testosterone receptors. Muscular coats showed no significant differences during different seasons or among segments. Epithelial height, stereocilia length, total diameter and luminal diameters indicated presence of significant differences among segments and seasons. There were morphological changes in epithelial cells during seasons. The folding was noticed during winter only. Imunoreactivity of testosterone receptors were demonstrated during all seasons in all epididymal segments. The study concluded that there were seasonal variations in dogs' epididymis being highest reproductive activity during spring and lowest during summer.
Highlights
There was a long history of cohabitation between human and dogs but there was little information and many aspects of canine reproductive concerning the effect of breeding season (Gavrilovic et al, 2008; Van den Berghe et al, 2012)
This study was the first trial conducted in Iraq to evaluate the effect of season on epididymal histology and testosterone receptors presence in dogs
Epididymis were carefully dissected from the testis and fixed in 10% formalin, dehydrated in graded ethanol, clarified in xylene, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 4-5μm in glass slides and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS)
Summary
There was a long history of cohabitation between human and dogs but there was little information and many aspects of canine reproductive concerning the effect of breeding season (Gavrilovic et al, 2008; Van den Berghe et al, 2012). Seasonal changes in semen parameters were observed in undomesticated canids and the testosterone production reach peak during breeding season (Strzezek et al, 2015). There were seasonal variations in reproductive activity in dogs inside Iraq (Zaid, 2015). Testosterone was required for accomplishment of meiosis and differentiation of spermatids (De-Gier et al, 2012). This study was the first trial conducted in Iraq to evaluate the effect of season on epididymal histology and testosterone receptors presence in dogs
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