Fig. 7: Shortening of the mitochondrial sheath of VDAC3 KO spermatozoa. | Nature Communications

Fig. 7: Shortening of the mitochondrial sheath of VDAC3 KO spermatozoa.

From: Kastor and Polluks polypeptides encoded by a single gene locus cooperatively regulate VDAC and spermatogenesis

Fig. 7

a SEM of spermatozoa collected from the cauda epididymis of WT, Kastor KO, Polluks KO, dKO, and VDAC3 KO mice. Arrows indicate regions where mitochondria are absent. Arrowheads indicate the annulus. Scale bars, 10 μm (leftmost panels) or 4 μm (other panels). b TEM of spermatozoa in the cauda epididymis of WT, dKO, or VDAC3 KO mice. Arrow indicates a region where mitochondria are absent. Scale bars, 2 μm. c–e Fluorescence microscopic images of spermatozoa collected from the cauda epididymis (c) as well as quantification both of the percentage of spermatozoa with a gap between the head and the mitochondrial sheath (d) and of the length of the mitochondrial sheath (e). Mitochondria and nuclei were stained with MitoTracker Red and DAPI (blue), respectively. Arrow indicates a gap between the sperm head and mitochondrial sheath. Scale bars, 5 μm. Quantitative data are means ± s.d. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 NS, not significant (unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test or Steel’s test). Source data are provided as a Source data file.

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