Fig. 3.

Sperm analysis in Aspm mutant mice. (A) Dark-field image (inverted) of live epididymal sperm from WT and 1-7 hom mice. (Scale bar, 50 μm.) (B, C, E, and F) Epididymal sperm parameters of adult (8–12 wk) WT, 1-25 and 1-7 het and hom, 1-7 hom +Hs, and +Hs mice, obtained using the IVOS sperm analyzer. Data are the mean of (left to right) 21, 10, 11, 8, 13, 7, and 8 mice; error bars indicate SD; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. (B) Sperm count. (C) Percentage of sperm categorized as motile (black columns), of which a subset is categorized as progressive (white column segments). (D) Schematic illustration of sperm velocity parameters defined by the sperm analyzer: the track speed of motile sperm defined as the VCL (dashed lines), VAP (dotted lines), and VSL (solid line with arrowhead) calculated from the distance between the start and the end of the track. Furthermore, sperm movement can be characterized by the ratios VSL/VCL (linearity) and by VSL/VAP (straightness). (E) Sperm velocity parameters as defined in D: VCL (white circles), VAP (gray circles), and VSL (black circles). (F) Sperm head area. (G and H) Transmission electron microscopy of adult epididymis from adult WT (G, Left; H, Upper) and 1-7 hom (G, Right; H, Lower) mice. Note the reduction in cell density within the epididymis (G) and the normal axoneme ultrastructure (H) of the 1-7 hom compared with WT. (Scale bar, 10 μm in G; 200 nm in H.)