Effect of Heat Stress on Sperm DNA: Protamine Assessment in Ram Spermatozoa and Testicle

Table 1

Means (%) ± SEM and value of ram sperm presenting different degrees of DNA fragmentation. Grade I (few damages), grade II (light damages), grade III (evident damage), and grade IV (intense damage) in different experimental weeks, in the control and treated groups.

Grade	Week	Control	Treated
I	1	30.05 ± 9.29	8.03% ± 2.09	0.06
	2	12.97% ± 4.33	14.06 ± 2.45	0.19
	3	13.25% ± 3.23	8.67 ± 2.62	0.19
	4	14.36% ± 5.76	18.83 ± 5.83	0.24
	5	4.80% ± 1.71	1.87 ± 1.20	0.54
	6	4.5% ± 2.07	0.94% ± 0.60	0.04
	7	3.23% ± 1.59	9.35% ± 3.33	0.06
	8	9.75% ± 3.22	4.89% ± 1.94	0.16
	9	13.12% ± 3.78	7.71% ± 1.79	015
II	1	41.46% ± 7.35	23.10% ± 5.56	0.06
	2	54.80% ± 6.14	16.98% ± 3.38	0.001
	3	64.76% ± 10.25	23.47% ± 6.93	0.013
	4	50.83% ± 12.83	24.49% 6.10	0.02
	5	83.49% ± 3.84	35.58% ± 5.58	0.001
	6	72.95% ± 4.90	51.52% ± 10.14	0.12
	7	76.06% ± 5.96	48.66% ± 11.25	0.06
	8	71.90% ± 4.17	64.19% ± 10.43	0.46
	9	71.56% ± 4.36	66.68% ± 4.90	0.34
III	1	27.61% ± 8.78	64.85% 5.50	0.002
	2	32.00% ± 7.58	68.57% ± 3.91	0.001
	3	20.14% ± 9.26	65.35 ± 5.12	0.007
	4	33.84% ± 7.49	55.99% ± 5.07	0.02
	5	11.58% ± 3.63	60.25% ± 6.90	0.0011
	6	21.65% ± 5.80	47.52% ± 10.18	0.03
	7	20.70% ± 5.70	41.68% ± 11.57	0.12
	8	18.34% ± 6.25	30.90% ± 11.30	0.34
	9	15.22% ± 8.24	25.19% ± 3.93	0.04
IV	1	0.87% ± 0.50	4.96% ± 1.90	0.07
	2	0.31% ± 0.21	0.38% ± 0.17	0.42
	3	1.83% ± 1.36	2.50% ± 1.82	0.43
	4	0.96% ± 0.74	0.68% ± 0.68	0.21
	5	0.11% ± 0.11	2.28% ± 1.25	0.02
	6	0.83% ± 0.40	0	0.09
	7	0	0.29% ± 0.29	0.50
	8	0	0	1
	9	0.10% ± 0.10	0.40% ± 0.40	0.50