Seasonal changes in spermatogenic activity and in plasma levels of FSH, LH and testosterone, and the effect of immunization against inhibin in the male silver fox (Vulpes vulpes).

The cellular composition of the silver fox testis assessed by DNA flow cytometry and histological analysis exhibited marked circannual alterations. The proportion of haploid cells increased from late October to the breeding season in February, while that of diploid cells decreased and that of tetraploid cells fluctuated during the same period. Towards the end of March these changes were reversed. The seasonal variations in testicular histology paralleled the changes in distribution of cells from the different DNA populations. In August, 69% of the tubules contained spermatogonia as the only type of germ cell, while the remaining 31% also contained a few primary spermatocytes. In late October more than 50% of the tubules contained spermatocytes, and during the period of further activation from early December-February the seminiferous epithelium included round and/or elongated spermatids as well. In February, all tubules contained complete associations of germ cells, whereas in late March tubules with spermatogonia only and spermatogonia together with a few spermatocytes reappeared. In May, only such tubules could be found indicating total regression. Plasma concentrations of FSH and LH increased from early November, both gonadotrophins reaching maximum levels in December or early January, and then both declined during the second part of January, immediately prior to the actual breeding season. LH values showed a few smaller peaks in the beginning of June, whereas FSH levels were generally low until the next period of testicular reactivation. Testosterone concentrations were also low during most of the year but rose in November and December to reach a peak in January and a second peak in June. In animals immunized against inhibin the distribution of haploid, diploid and tetraploid cells did not deviate to any great extent from that in the controls, except in March when the immunized males had a markedly lower proportion of tetraploid cells, and in May, when they had a distinctly higher proportion of haploid cells. These findings were partly reflected by the histology. In the immunized animals, plasma FSH levels started to increase at approximately the same time but peaked higher and remained elevated almost 1 month longer than in the controls, whereas both the rise and decline in LH levels generally coincided with the variations in these animals, but the values were mostly higher. The testosterone profiles were similar to those in the controls except that the maximum values were also usually higher.