Gonadal damage and options for fertility preservation in female and male cancer survivors

It is estimated that in 2010, 1 in every 250 adults will be a childhood cancer survivor. Today, oncological surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy achieve relatively high rates of remission and long-term survival, yet are often detrimental to fertility. Quality of life is increasingly important to long-term survivors of cancer, and one of the major quality-of-life issues is the ability to produce and raise normal children. Developments in the near future in the emerging field of fertility preservation in cancer survivors promise to be very exciting. This article reviews the published literature, discusses the effects of cancer treatment on fertility and presents the options available today thanks to advances in assisted-reproduction technology for maintaining fertility in male and female patients undergoing this type of treatment. The various diagnostic methods of assessing the fertility potential and the efficacy of in vitro fertilization （IVF） after cancer treatment are also presented.

In vitro performance and in vivo fertility of antibiotic-free preserved boar semen stored at 5℃

Background: Hypothermic preservation of boar semen is considered a potential method for omitting antibiotics from insemination doses, thereby contributing to the global antibiotic resistance defence strategy. The main challenges are chilling injury to spermatozoa and bacterial growth during semen storage leading to reduced fertility.Objectives: To examine chilling injury and the number and type of bacteria in boar semen stored at 5 ℃ in the absence of antibiotics, and to assess the applicability of hypothermic semen storage under field conditions.Material and methods: Boar ejaculates were extended with AndroStar~? Premium, stored at 17 ℃ with and at 5 ℃ without antibiotics and tested for functional sperm parameters by flow cytometry. Raw semen and extended samples were investigated bacteriologically. Fertility was evaluated after once-daily inseminations of 194 sows in a field study.Results: Lethal sperm damage assessed by motility and membrane integrity was low throughout storage in both experimental groups. Sublethal chilling effects based on the decrease of viable spermatozoa with low membrane fluidity were higher(P < 0.05) up until 72 h in sperm stored at 5 ℃ compared to 17 ℃ but did not differ after 144 h.After 72 h, incubation in capacitating medium for 60 min induced a similar decrease in viable sperm with high mitochondria membrane potential and low cytosolic calcium in both groups. In semen stored at 5 ℃, bacteria counts were below 103 CFU/mL and the bacteria spectrum was similar to that of raw semen. In 88% of 34 boars,cooled semen fulfilled the requirements for insemination. Fertility was high and did not differ(P > 0.05) between sow groups inseminated with semen stored antibiotic-free at 5 ℃ and semen stored at 17 ℃ with antibiotics.Conclusion: Despite subtle chilling effects and low bacterial numbers, antibiotic-free hypothermic storage of boar semen offers the possibility to reduce the use of antibiotics in pig insemination. However, strict sanitary guidelines must be maintained and further evidence of efficiency under field conditions is considered desirable.

Relationship between HSP90a, NPC2 and L-PGDS proteins to boar semen freezability

Background： The purpose of this study was to determine the association of three proteins involved in sperm function on the freezability of porcine semen： the heat shock protein 90 alpha（HSP90a）, the Niemann-Pick disease type C2 protein（NPC2）, and lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase（L-PGDS）.Six adult boars（each boar was ejaculated three times, 18 in total） were classified by freezability based on the percentage of functionally competent sperm. The male semen with highest freezability（MHF） and the male semen with lowest freezability（MLF） were centrifuged immediately after collection to separate seminal plasma and spermatozoa to make four possible combinations of these two components and to incubate them for 3 h,adjusting the temperature to 17 °C, to freeze them afterwards. The quantification of proteins was performed in two stages： at zero and at 3 h after incubation of the four combinations.Results： The spermatozoa × incubation time（IT） interaction only had effect（P 〈 0.01） on HSP90 a levels; this protein increased in seminal plasma, after 3 h of incubation, in larger quantity（P 〈 0.05） in combinations with MLF spermatozoa. In relation with the NPC2 protein, two isoforms of 16 and 19 kDa were identified. The 19 kDa isoform was affected（P 〈 0.01） only by the seminal plasma × IT interaction, with superior values（P 〈 0.01） both at zero and three hours of incubation, in the combinations with MHF seminal plasma; and 16 kDa isoform was affected（P 〈 0.01） only by the IT with reduction after 3 h of incubation. The levels of L-PGDS was affected（P 〈 0.01）only by the spermatozoa × IT interaction, which reduced（P 〈 0.01） in combinations with MLF spermatozoa after 3 h of incubation.Conclusions： It is possible to consider that the three proteins evaluated were associated with freezability of boar semen due, especially, to the fact that mixtures with MLF spermatozoa showed greater increase levels of the HSP90 a protein and reduction of L-PGDS in plasma. In addition, the seminal plasma of MHF had higher concentration of the NPC2 of 19 kDa protein, which was reduced by incubating with MHF spermatozoa.