Abstract
Simple SummaryAssessing semen quality in dogs requires experience and specialized equipment. Therefore, this study investigates the potential value of measuring the blood concentration of Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), a hormone produced by Sertoli cells, to predict semen quality in dogs. Forty-five healthy dogs were included in this study and their age as well as different semen parameters were correlated to blood AMH concentration. Moderate negative associations were found between AMH and semen motility and morphology indicating that high serum AMH may be a potential biomarker for identifying which dogs would require further semen investigation. Future research is however needed to confirm these preliminary results.Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) has been suggested to be involved in spermatogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between blood serum AMH concentration and semen quality in dogs. Moreover, this study sought to find the optimal cut-off point value of serum AMH with the greatest sensitivity and specificity to predict semen quality. Forty-five clinically healthy dogs were included in the study and their age as well as the following semen parameters were determined and correlated to serum AMH concentration: total sperm output, normal morphology, plasma membrane integrity, total motility, progressive motility, and velocity parameters. Statistical analysis for correlations were performed using Spearman’s correlation coefficients. Moderate negative associations were found between serum AMH and semen total motility (r = −0.38, p = 0.01), progressive motility (r = −0.36, p = 0.01), and normal morphology (r = −0.36, p= 0.02). Based on these associations, an AMH concentration of 5.54 µg/L was found to be the optimal cut-off point value to obtain the greatest summation of sensitivity (86%) and specificity (63%) to predict semen quality. The serum AMH assay may therefore be a potential hormonal marker to predict which dogs would require further semen analysis. Future research is however needed to confirm these preliminary results.
Highlights
Dog fertility is essential to avoid unsatisfactory breeding performance
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between serum Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration and semen quality in dogs with the hypothesis that higher AMH concentration would be found in lower quality semen
Five dogs presented secretory azoospermia and ten had an unsuccessful semen collection. These dogs were excluded from the study and 45 dogs from 21 breeds were included in the final dataset of the study
Summary
In order to assess the potential fertility of a stud dog, a complete breeding soundness evaluation can be carried out. Semen collection is not always successful and semen analysis requires experience and specialized equipment, which is not available in all veterinary practices. For this reason, additional diagnostic tools such as the presence of particular biomarkers in a blood sample would be of interest for a general veterinary practitioner to evaluate gonadal function and to predict fertility in male dogs [4,5,6]
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