Plugged Ampullae in a Donkey Stallion ( Equus asinus )

Abstract

The donkey jack sex glands are larger than stallions, responsible for producing most part of seminal plasma and the second fraction of ejaculate, along with epididymis tail. Plugged ampullae occur by sperm accumulation obstructing the lumen, inducing decrease in sperm quality and may cause azoospermia. In this study, a Pêga breed donkey jack, aging 4 years, was evaluated for breeding soundness evaluation due to a sudden decrease in semen parameters and low fertility rates. Palpation, measurements, and ultrasound examinations of testicles were normal; however, rectal palpation revealed increased volume of ampullae and deferent duct, and the transrectal ultrasonography revealed distended ampullae with hyperechogenic material in the ampullae lumen. After ampullae massage, the semen was collected with artificial vagina for evaluation, resulting in high concentrated semen (1.46 Â 10 9 spermatozoa/mL) with low motility (5%), 14% of major defects, and 57% of minor defects. Plugged ampullae were suggested, and the treatment was performed by ampullae massage per rectum and three consecutive semen collections associated with the parenteral use of oxytocin 20 IU iv, aiming to discharge the semen accumulation. Daily regimen of semen collection was recommended during 10 days, and after this time, semen was collected at least three times a week. The semen parameters restored to normal (80% motility) after 30 days. The donkey jack returned to the breeding season with a regimen of 3 days a week of semen collection.

Age-related linear and nonlinear modelling of semen quality parameters in Miranda donkeys

“…Additionally, azoospermia stages have been described in donkeys due to plugged ampullae causing total ampullae obstruction (Segabinazzi et al 2018) or after immunocastration procedures (Rocha et al 2018), but also may be physiologically mediated by undifferentiated embryonic cell transcription factor 1 (UTF 1) and deleted in azoospermia-like (DAZL) expression in donkey testis (Lee et al 2017;Choi et al 2020) and has been suggested to be an effect derived from ageing (Liu et al 2021) which was supported by our results as shown in Figure 3. Figure 8 also describe a decrease in total spermatozoa motility which is concomitant with the azoospermia stage detected in Figure 3.…”

Key Aspects of Donkey and Mule Reproduction

“…Stallions are frequently affected with ampullary blockage; however, surprisingly there is only one report of ampullary blockage in a four-year-old jack. This jack was reported to respond to standard stallion treatment with oxytocin and transrectal massage coupled with frequent semen collections 50 While all four accessory sex glands contribute to the seminal plasma in jacks, their specific contributions remain to be determined. Apart from the vesicular glands, all the other glands are larger in jacks than stallions 30,51 .…”

Assessment of the accuracy of testicular dysfunction detection in male donkey (Equus asinus) with the aid of colour‐spectral Doppler in relation to plasma testosterone and serum nitric oxide levels

“…Over the past 10 years, there has been increase in studies in the field of donkey reproduction, with the aim of preserving this breed and enhancing fertility. Ultrasonography could provide information about the male genital tract to aid in the detection of genital abnormalities (Gacem et al., 2020; Segabinazzi et al., 2018).…”