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. 2023 Dec 21;12:RP92769. doi: 10.7554/eLife.92769

Figure 5. Impaired development of the connecting piece and the axoneme structure of spermatids/spermatozoa in Cfap52-KO mice.

Figure 5.

(A) Longitudinal sections of elongating (steps 10–12) and elongated (steps 13–16) spermatids in WT mice and Cfap52-KO mice, showing the structure of the connecting piece. Sc, segmented columns; Cp, capitulum; Bp, basal plate; Mt, mitochondria; Ax, axoneme. V, vacuoles; Nu, nucleus: PM, plasma membrane. Scale bars, 500 nm. (B, C) The percentage of spermatids with ultrastructural defects in the connecting piece of elongating spermatids and elongated spermatids from WT mice and Cfap52-KO mice. At least 30 spermatids were counted for each mouse. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM (n=3 each group), Student’s t test, *p<0.05, **p<0.01. HTCA, head-tail coupling apparatus. (D) Cross-sections showing the ultrastructure of the midpiece, principal piece, and end piece of spermatozoa from WT mice and Cfap52-KO mice. CP, central pair; DMT, doublet microtubule; ODF, outer dense fibres; MS; mitochondrial sheath; FS, fibrous sheath. Scale bars, 100 nm. (E) The ratio of ultrastructural defects of the flagellar axoneme in the midpiece, principal piece, and end piece of spermatozoa from WT mice and Cfap52-KO mice. At least 30 spermatozoa were counted for each mouse. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM (n=3 each group), Student’s t test, ***p<0.001.