Sperm Quality Affected by Naturally Occurring Chemical Elements in Bull Seminal Plasma
, Marko Halo 1, Marián Tomka 2, Tomáš Slanina 3, Katarína Tokárová 3, Martyna Błaszczyk-Altman 4, Lucia Dianová 3, Peter Ivanič 5, Róbert Kirchner 3, Agnieszka Greń 4, Norbert Lukáč 3 and Peter Massányi 3,4,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
My comments are included in the attached file
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer.
Thank you for your effort and thorough revision of the current manuscript. Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The aim of this study is to evaluate concentrations of selected chemical elements, lipids, proteins in seminal plasma as well as its redox status.
Authors concluded that the obtained results suggest that seminal plasma composition could be used as a potential biomarker of bull reproductive health.
The topic of the study is interesting. However, the manuscript needs major revisions as outlined below:
1. Please modify the following sentence:
“Another important type of lipids, triglycerides, contribute to sperm energy production”.
The idea that, in the absence of glycolysable substrates, sperm might be able to oxidize fatty acids from endogenous phospholipids is well known in literature. Therefore, I suggest referring to “fatty acids” and not to “triglycerides”.
2. Results are mainly descriptive and possible molecular mechanisms for the observed effects are not investigated. Authors should better clarify in the discussion section the link between sperm quality (motility), mitochondrial activity, redox homeostasis, and specific chemical concentrations in seminal plasma.
Do chemical elements negatively affect mitochondrial function and, therefore, sperm quality? Are chemical elements cofactors of specific enzymes involved in sperm redox homeostasis?
Authors should discuss this aspect.
3. Other suggestions:
- Has the relationship between seminal plasma cholesterol, triacylglycerols and proteins been investigated in other species?
- What is the role of seminal plasma cholesterol in sperm quality? In human seminal plasma it has been suggested that cholesterol may be important for spermatogenesis.
4. A paragraph including the limitations of the study should be added at the end of the manuscript.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer.
Thank you for your effort and thorough revision of the current manuscript. Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Authors modified the manuscript according to my comments.
Author Response
The collective of authors thanks the Reviewer for all the effort in revising the manuscript.
