engleski

Testicular macrophages in rats treated with high doses of testosterone enanthate

High doses of testosterone enanthate (TE) are applied either for the treatment of hypogonadal men or for male contraception. The aim of our study was to investigate testicular macrophages in rats treated with high doses of TE. Adult male Fischer rats were randomly divided into 3 groups. The TE-treated group was given 30 mg/100 g body mass TE (i. m., once per week) during a 60-day period. Oil vehicle-treated rats were given 0.5 ml 10% oil solution, whereas intact rats received no treatment at all. The animals were sacrificed after 12 hours, 3, 7, 14, 21, 30 and 60 days. Their testes were weighed and processed for electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry and morphometry. Testes of TE-treated rats revealed a significant dicrease in testis mass as well as disorganisation and desquamation of seminiferous epithelium after 21-60 days of treatment. TE-treated macrophages also showed a significant increase in volume and number per mm^3 of the testis tissue after 30-60 days of the experiment. However, when the absolute number and volume of macrophages were considered, a significant increase in the macrophage volume (but not number) was observed only after 60 days of TE treatment. Organell morphometry revealed that macrophages in TE- treated testes had significantly more secondary lysosomes, phagolysosomes, phagocytic processes and cytoplasmic extensions than the controls. The results of our study indicate that high doses of TE are able to affect rat testicular macrophages in situ. However, it is suggested that the mentioned effects on macrophages are very likely due to the changes of seminiferous epithelium than to the direct stimulatory action of TE.

testis ; testosterone ; rat ; macrophages

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