Figure 3.

Sperm Morphology and Fertility of the Ttc21a Mutant Male Mice

(A) A spermatozoon from a wild-type (WT) male mouse.

(B–D) Multiple morphological abnormalities, including short, coiled flagella and/or tailless spermatozoa (abnormal head-tail conjunction), in the spermatozoa from the Ttc21a mutant (Ttc21a^mut/mut) male mice, were observed under light microscopy.

(E) Fertility of heterozygous (Ttc21a^+/mut) and homozygous (Ttc21a^mut/mut) male mice. Heterozygous and homozygous males were mated with WT females, and the numbers of pups per litter were counted. No significant difference in fertility was observed between the heterozygous carriers and the WT male mice. However, the litter sizes of homozygous mutated male mice were significantly reduced, and approximately 78% of these males were infertile.

Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. ^∗∗∗ p < 0.001 (Student’s t test). Abbreviations are as follows: ns = no significance.