Introduction Material and methods

1. Introduction

It has been well established that the testes produces, in addition to androgens, considerable amounts of another type of secretion which flows from the lumina of the seminiferous tubules through the rete testes into the epididymides. Here a large part of the fluid is reabsorbed, but additional compounds are added as the spermatozoa pass down the epididymal duct. For most species, the spermatozoa remain immotile in the lower part of the epididymides and motility is activated when spermatozoa are mixed with secretions from different accessory glands during ejaculation. Extensive studies on the distribution of organic and ionic components of semen Ž between seminal fractions of many species Wallace and Wales, 1964; Quinn et al., . 1965; Wales et al., 1966; Setchell, 1974; Eissa et al., 1992; Hamamah and Gatti, 1998 were made to define its important effect on sperm motility and metabolic activity. Ž . Ž . Except for the reports by Abdel-Raouf and El-Naggar 1976 , Badawy et al. 1982 and Ž . Abou-Ahmed et al. 1988 on the fructose and citric acid contents of the accessory glands, research pertaining to the role of the reproductive organs in producing various ionic compounds of the male camel could not be found in the available literature. Ž . The present study was, therefore, designed to: 1 investigate the concentrations of Ž . Ž . certain bulk Na, K, Ca, P and Mg and trace Zn, Cu, Fe elements in the testes, epididymides and accessory sex glands of the male dromedary camels throughout their Ž . reproductive life; 2 determine plasma testosterone concentrations to clarify how far differences in concentrations of these cations in the different reproductive organs are Ž . androgen dependent; and 3 compare the ion concentrations in all combinations to gauge the importance of possible interrelationships.

2. Material and methods

2.1. Samples collection and their assignment to groups Blood as well as the external and pelvic genitalia of 56 clinically healthy, one-humped camels were collected from the Buraidah slaughter house during two consecutive breeding seasons. All samples used were grossly normal and free from pathological lesions. The camels were allotted to four groups according to their age. The age range in these groups was - 3 years to over 15 years, according to the dentition formula given Ž . by Rabagliati 1924 . 2.2. Chemical analyses Ž . Examination of specimens testes, epididymides, prostate and bulbo-urethral glands was conducted in the laboratory within 2–3 h after slaughter. The organs were first dissected from the surrounding fat and other tissues. Samples of known weight from Ž . each pair of the genital organs were prepared according to Orlove 1963 . After drying for 24 h at 1058C, tissues were ashed in a muffle furnace at 5508C for 12 h and then weighed. Samples still having carbon after 12 h ashing were replaced in the muffle A.A. Al-Qarawi et al. r Animal Reproduction Science 62 2000 297 – 307 299 Table 1 Ž . Ž . Ž . Ž . Ž . Age-related changes meansS.E. in concentrations of plasma testosterone ngrml and bulk and trace elements mgr100 gm in the testes T epididymides E , Ž . Ž . prostate gland P and bulbo-urethral glands B in camels Group Age Testosterone Organ Na K Ca P Mg Zn Cu Fe Ž . years Prebupertal - 3 1.10.1 T 1378.2140.1 585.352.5 190.418.5 85.27.9 53.55.1 14.91.3 4.90.3 1.80.2 Ž . ns12 E 894.376.3 923.187.2 258.223.1 6824.1670.1.1 69.26.3 10.50.8 5.60.5 3.20.3 P 1015.198.2 1985.4180.1 169.215.1 74.57.3 43.63.8 189.117.6 3.20.2 2.70.2 B 1227.4119.5 2468.2231.3 148.113.9 166.315.5 84.27.6 97.39.8 2.10.9 1.60.1 Peribupertal 3– - 5 3.20.4 T 5412.4498.3 609.456.5 1425.3136.2 718.670.1 58.35.4 26.42.2 5.80.6 1.50.1 Ž . ns9 E 2463.8203.2 2506.1240.3 659.461.7 8209.1811.2 89.78.2 8.20.7 2.90.3 5.20.5 P 1119.5101.1 4369.2411.4 250.521.2 123.311.9 46.24.7 164.116.1 2.60.2 3.00.2 B 1364.8129.7 5197.2491.6 194.482.5 215.219.6 161.316.1 85.48.2 6.40.5 2.10.1 Mature 5– -15 4.80.6 T 5918.6521.2 779.168.5 1765.1161.3 884.373.2 49.13.8 31.52.8 2.60.2 1.30.9 Ž . ns16 E 3232.1295.6 3168.4281.3 711.663.3 8254.6821.1 108.89.6 7.40.6 2.30.1 6.20.7 P 1207.3118.5 4825.5406.1 314.728.9 156.214.8 63.56.5 158.315.6 1.60.1 3.40.3 B 1394.8128.7 5321.2508.5 241.522.3 270.125.7 189.117.2 73.77.2 3.10.2 2.50.3 Aged G15 2.60.3 T 3425.7321.1 1168.796.6 3553.1341.2 662.958.3 40.33.8 22.42.7 3.10.2 2.30.2 Ž . ns15 E 1556.4148.5 1354.2121.4 2118.3193.5 3094.528.9 73.57.2 12.61.5 3.40.3 5.00.6 P 1005.896.9 2118.3184.1 715.869.2 93.58.6 50.24.4 231.822.5 4.20.3 3.10.3 B 1116.5107.3 2206.2201.1 576.152.7 142.713.4 134.813.1 125.311.8 3.00.2 2.20.2 Overall - 3–15 3.10.2 T 4033.2128.4 785.763.8 1733.584.4 587.3146.2 50.04.2 23.31.9 5.30.5 1.70.2 Ž . ns 52 E 2136.796.5 1998.490.3 926.763.8 6595.8511.6 84.87.7 9.40.8 3.50.4 4.90.4 P 1086.573.2 3324.6214.0 362.024.5 111.56.4 50.64.8 185.516.3 3.00.2 2.30.3 B 1275.281.3 3798.4253.2 289.821.3 198.416.1 142.113.5 95.08.6 3.60.3 2.10.2 A.A. Al-Qarawi et al. r Animal Reproduction Science 62 2000 297 – 307 300 Table 2 Ž . Ž . Ž . Ž . The interaction of age, plasma testosterone concentrations and mineral contents of testes T , epididymides E , prostate gland P and bulbo-urethral glands B in camels Parameters Testosterone Organ Na K Ca P Mg Zn Cu Fe Age 0.281 T 0.301 0.273 0.873 0.277 y0.108 0.203 0.104 y0.213 E 0.275 0.280 0.625 0.283 0.282 0.087 0.116 y0.169 P 0.286 0.324 0.731 0.291 0.298 y0.511 0.095 y0.200 B 0.270 0.351 0.814 0.315 0.291 y0.407 0.086 y0.185 Testosterone T 0.735 0.526 y0.309 0.170 0.183 0.406 0.310 y0.392 E 0.681 0.613 y0.276 0.614 0.309 0.125 y0.299 0.207 P 0.813 0.414 y0.313 0.078 0.518 y0.552 y0.316 0.295 B 0.625 0.379 y0.325 0.084 0.463 y0.433 y0.303 0.304 Na T y0.485 0.063 y0.139 0.166 y0.325 0.061 0.274 E y0.516 0.088 y0.202 0.148 y0.291 0.144 0.318 P y0.296 0.126 0.081 0.212 y0.420 0.088 0.296 B y0.324 0.050 0.056 0.205 y0.311 0.054 0.355 K T 0.022 0.111 0.206 0.465 0.300 y0.351 E 0.011 0.053 0.181 0.518 0.312 y0.401 P 0.035 0.104 0.210 0.299 0.290 y0.329 B 0.019 0.018 0.155 0.321 0.275 y0.336 A.A. Al-Qarawi et al. r Animal Reproduction Science 62 2000 297 – 307 301 Ca T y0.636 y0.319 0.016 0.073 0.010 E y0.307 y0.275 0.027 0.079 0.008 P y0.542 y0.284 0.102 0.115 0.004 B y0.518 y0.310 0.065 0.081 0.015 P T 0.425 0.055 0.110 0.125 E 0.396 0.092 0.039 0.114 P 0.511 0.063 0.066 0.130 B 0.432 0.021 0.052 0.112 Mg T 0.006 0.013 0.092 E 0.009 0.035 0.008 P 0.022 0.017 0.006 B 0.017 0.011 0.004 Zn T 0.363 y0.278 E 0.488 y0.284 P 0.626 y0.511 B 0.289 y0.411 Cu T y0.351 E y0.324 P y0.280 B y0.3478 P - 0.05. P - 0.01. furnace for another 3–4 h after adding a few drops of concentrated nitric acid. The ash content of each sample was placed in a dry clean vial, dissolved in 0.5 N nitric acid with a final volume of 7 ml and analyzed at the end of the season. Na and K concentrations were assayed by emission flame photometry, whereas Ca, Zn, Cu and Fe were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometry as described Ž . Ž . Ž . by Clegg et al. 1981 . P Bio-Merieux, France and Mg Bayer diagnostics, Germany were determined colorometrically using commercial kits. 2.3. Hormonal analysis Jugular blood was collected after slaughtering into EDTA-containing vials, cen- trifuged at 1500 g for 20 min. Plasma was stored at y608C pending hormonal assays. The concentration of testosterone was measured in duplicate in 200 ml of plasma Ž . without column separation from dihydroxytestosterone DHT using a method previ- Ž . ously described by El-Belely et al. 1995 . The cross-reactivity of the antibody was 100 testosterone, 58.6 5 a-DHT, 54.3 5 b-DHT, 15.6 androstenedione, 7.8 corticosterone, and less than 1 oestriol and oestradiol 17a. The sensitivity of the assay was 10 pgrml. The average intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation in six assays were 13.5 and 14.2, respectively. 2.4. Statistical analyses Changes in plasma testosterone concentrations and mineral contents of different genital organs within and between age groups were statistically evaluated by the least Ž . squares analysis of variance using the general linear models GLM procedures of the Ž . statistical analysis system SAS, 1996 . Correlations between hormonal and mineral concentrations were undertaken using SAS procedures.

3. Results