Table 4.
Associations between the bacterial load, ram semen quality, oxidative, and immunological markers (n = 35).
| MOT | PRO | CON | CNT | VOL | LEU | MI | AI | ΔΨm | DNA | ROS | TAC | LPO | PC | CRP | IL-1 | IL-2 | IL-6 | IL-8 | IL-12 | CFU | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MOT | 1 | 0.987 | 0.736 *** |
0.642 *** |
0.130 |
−0.752 *** |
0.798 *** |
0.482 ** |
0.671 *** |
−0.827 *** |
−0.831 *** |
0.607 *** |
−0.767 *** |
−0.690 *** |
−0.787 *** |
−0.822 *** |
−0.654 *** |
−0.614 *** |
−0.588 *** |
−0.770 *** |
−0.795 *** |
| PRO | 1 | 0.779 *** |
0.647 *** |
0.112 |
−0.759 *** |
0.810 *** |
0.535 *** |
0.678 *** |
−0.817 *** |
−0.819 *** |
0.628 *** |
−0.750 *** |
−0.678 *** |
−0.780 *** |
−0.780 *** |
−0.613 *** |
−0.594 *** |
−0.566 *** |
−0.752 *** |
−0.778 *** |
|
| CON | 1 | 0.766 * |
−0.008 |
−0.544 *** |
0.640 *** |
0.551 *** |
0.550 *** |
−0.673 *** |
−0.596 *** |
0.549 *** |
−0.627 *** |
−0.542 *** |
−0.654 *** |
−0.596 *** |
−0.543 *** |
−0.628 *** |
−0.521 *** |
−0.649 *** |
−0.602 *** |
||
| CNT | 1 | 0.473 ** |
−0.389 ** |
0.432 ** |
0.280 |
0.440 ** |
−0.491 ** |
−0.467 ** |
0.335 * |
−0.474 ** |
−0.444 ** |
−0.524 *** |
−0.518 *** |
−0.468 ** |
−0.440 ** |
−0.350 * |
−0.491 ** |
−0.607 *** |
|||
| VOL | 1 | 0.027 | −0.091 | −0.282 | −0.161 | −0.004 | 0.113 | −0.229 | 0.214 | 0.063 | −0.109 | −0.020 | −0.064 | −0.056 | −0.032 | −0.032 | −0.178 | ||||
| LEU | 1 | −0.741 *** |
−0.626 *** |
−0.643 *** |
0.711 *** |
0.695 *** |
−0.690 *** |
0.647 *** |
0.533 *** |
0.608 *** |
0.584 *** |
0.425 * |
0.344 * |
0.289 |
0.510 ** |
0.613 *** |
|||||
| MI | 1 | 0.766 *** |
0.624 *** |
−0.890 *** |
−0.746 *** |
0.831 *** |
−0.790 *** |
−0.697 *** |
−0.819 *** |
−0.814 *** |
−0.644 *** |
−0.578 *** |
−0.529 ** |
−0.764 ** |
−0.614 *** |
||||||
| AI | 1 | 0.592 *** |
−0.557 ** |
−0.554 ** |
0.780 *** |
−0.525 ** |
−0.415 ** |
−0.467 * |
−0.402 * |
−0.287 |
−0.254 |
−0.152 |
−0.404 * |
−0.282 | |||||||
| ΔΨm | 1 | −0.488 ** |
−0.579 ** |
0.636 *** |
−0.611 *** |
−0.518 ** |
−0.485 ** |
−0.514 ** |
−0.365 * |
−0.236 |
−0.226 |
−0.495 ** |
−0.621 *** |
||||||||
| DNA | 1 | 0.716 *** |
−0.721 *** |
0.774 *** |
0.743 *** |
0.827 *** |
0.851 *** |
0.756 *** |
0.698 *** |
0.665 *** |
0.807 *** |
0.638 *** |
|||||||||
| ROS | 1 | −0.689 *** |
0.869 *** |
0.785 *** |
0.704 *** |
0.788 *** |
0.642 *** |
0.535 ** |
0.524 ** |
0.677 *** |
0.613 *** |
||||||||||
| TAC | 1 |
−0.702 *** |
−0.667 *** |
−0.529 ** |
−0.584 ** |
−0.403 * |
−0.356 * |
−0.292 |
−0.533 *** |
−0.506 ** |
|||||||||||
| LPO | 1 | 0.859 *** |
0.791 *** |
0.908 *** |
0.785 *** |
0.683 *** |
0.656 *** |
0.822 *** |
0.598 *** |
||||||||||||
| PC | 1 | 0.768 *** |
0.800 *** |
0.774 *** |
0.709 *** |
0.681 ** |
0.834 *** |
0.514 ** |
|||||||||||||
| CRP | 1 | 0.867 *** |
0.881 *** |
0.842 *** |
0.807 *** |
0.917 *** |
0.592 *** |
||||||||||||||
| IL-1 | 1 | 0.850 *** |
0.739 *** |
0.748 *** |
0.896 *** |
0.709 *** |
|||||||||||||||
| IL-2 | 1 | 0.885 *** |
0.857 *** |
0.900 *** |
0.470 ** |
||||||||||||||||
| IL-6 | 1 | 0.914 *** |
0.895 *** |
0.474 ** |
|||||||||||||||||
| IL-8 | 1 | 0.850 *** |
0.403 * |
||||||||||||||||||
| IL-12 | 1 | 0.605 ** |
|||||||||||||||||||
| CFU | 1 |
Data interpretation followed the value of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient: ±0.111–±0.333: weak correlation; ±0.334–±0.666: moderate correlation; ±0.667–±0.999: strong correlation. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001. MOT: sperm motility (%); PRO: sperm progressive motility (%); CON: sperm concentration (million/mL); CNT: sperm count (billions); VOL: semen volume (mL); LEU: concentration of leukocytes (×106/mL); MI: membrane integrity (%); AI: acrosome integrity (%); ΔΨm: mitochondrial membrane potential (JC-1 units); DNA: sperm DNA fragmentation (%);ROS: reactive oxygen species production (RLU/s/106 cells); TAC: total antioxidant species (eq. µmol Trolox/g prot); MDA: malondialdehyde concentration (lipid peroxidation) (µmol MDA/g prot); PC: protein carbonyls content (protein oxidation) (nmol PC/mg prot); CRP: C-reactive protein (mg/g prot); IL: interleukins (pg/mg prot); CFU: colony-forming units (log CFU/mL).