Testicular development in bulls treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin

This study was conducted to test the hypothesis that administering recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) would affect testicular development in Holstein bulls. From 4 until 32 wk of age, bulls received a daily injection of either placebo (C) or rbST (.2 mg/kg BW.75, i.m.; n = 10/group). At 14-d intervals, blood was obtained and assayed for testosterone (T); BW, shoulder height (SH), and testis length (TL) were recorded. At 7, 12, and 24 wk of age, bulls were bled at 10-min intervals for 6 h to determine the secretory patterns of LH, growth hormone (GH), and IGF-I. All bulls were killed at 40 wk of age. One testis was used for determination of daily sperm production (DSP), and the number of spermatids per gram of parenchyma (SP/G); the remaining testis was perfused and fixed for histological analysis of numbers of Sertoli cell nuclei (SCN/ST) and spermatids per seminiferous tubule cross-section (SP/ST). Epididymal spermatozoa were collected to test effects of rbST on the integrity of spermatozoal chromatin structure. Administration of rbST increased (P < .0001) concentrations of GH (nanograms/milliliter) in plasma at all ages (C vs rbST; wk 7, 8.9 +/- 1.0 vs 51.9 +/- 6.8; wk 12, 12.8 +/- 1.4 vs 59.2 +/- 6.4; and wk 24, 5.2 +/- 1.5 vs 42.6 +/- 12.2). There was an age x treatment interaction (P < .0183) for concentrations of IGF-I (nanograms/milliliter) in plasma (C vs rbST; wk 7, 149.7 +/- 6.1 vs 148.6 +/- 8.6; wk 12, 184.1 +/- 12.8 vs 216.6 +/- 15.9; and wk 24, 392.8 +/- 24.8 vs 484.7 +/- 19.9).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)