Effect of alcoholic beverages on progeny and reproduction of mice

Abstract

Alcohol is the most commonly consumed substance in the world. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of alcoholic beverages on male reproduction and possible alterations in their offspring. The mice were divided into 4 groups: beer, wine, cachaça (a type of sugarcane rum), with ethanol concentrations of 1.9 g/kg, and control group treated with PBS. The treatment period was 35 days. The animals which received cachaça, demonstrated significant weight loss in the testes and epididymis. The alcoholic beverages promoted significant testosterone level and fertilization index diminution, and morphological alterations in the spermatozoa. The beer group presented decreased implantation sites and a high frequency of dominant lethal. The number of reabsorptions in the wine group was increased. The fermented beverages presented higher potential to induce visceral malformations, while the cachaça caused fetal skeletal malformations. The cachaça treated group presented a negative impact on semen quality and fertilization potential. The treatment with different alcoholic beverages, during spermatogenesis, demonstrated contrasting degrees of induction of toxic effects, interfering in a general aspect in male reproductive performance, fetal viability during intrauterine life, and birth defects. From the data, it is possible to infer that the distillated beverage caused more harmful effects to reproduction in this study.

The Effect of Mixed Liquor Administration on The Johnsen’s Score and The Number of Sertoli Cells and Leydig Cells on The Wistar Strain White Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

“…These result is in line with a study by Figueiro et al that there was a significant decrease in the number of Sertoli cells in all treatment groups of mice that were given ethanol. [22] The Sertoli cells are part of the testicular blood barrier (BTB), which separate the basal compartment and the adluminal compartment. [23] BTB is a collection of protein structures consisting of several types of cellular junctions.…”