Effect of pinealectomy, adrenalectomy, pinealectomy plus adrenalectomy upon the quantification of spermatogenic cells of adult rats

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of pinealectomy, adrenalectomy and pinealectomy-adrenalectomy upon the quantification of spermatogenic cells of rats. As such, 32 adult Wistar rats with a mean body weight of 331.7± 15.5g were assigned into one of the following treatments: (a) a sham-operated control group, consisting of nine animals; (b) ten pinealectomized animals; (c) seven adrenalectomized animals and (d) six pinealectomized plus adrenalectomized animals. No significant differences were observed between groups for the following parameters: body, testes, prostate and seminal vesicle weights, seminiferous tubular diameter, number of cells per seminiferous tubular cross sections (primary spermatocytes at pachytene, round spermatids, Sertoli cells) and numbers of germ cells per Sertoli cell (primary spermatocytes at pachytene and round spermatids ). Although no increase in testicular weight was observed following pinealectomy, a significant (P<0.05) increase of approximately 11.5% in the number of round spermatids per Sertoli cell (Sertoli cell ratio) occurred thus suggesting that short-term pinealectomy abolishes the antigonadal effect of the pineal gland upon adult Wistar rat testes.

Effect of Photoperiod and Melatonin on Volume and Cellular Parameters of Testis in Pinealectomized Rats

“…In rats, pinealectomy increases the testicular weight while melatonin administration decreases the testicular weight in non-pinealectomized rats (Kus et al, 2000). According to Carneicelli et al (1963) and Charlton et al (1976), pinealectomy increases the testicular weight in adult animals except hamsters while others didn't observe a statistically significances on the adult rats (Castro et al, 2002;Roth, 1964).…”