Combination of running exercise and high dose of anabolic androgenic steroid, nandrolone decanoate, increases protamine deficiency and DNA damage in rat spermatozoa

Abstract

High doses of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are used by some athletes to increase muscle mass, that is often associated with male infertility. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible cause/s of male infertility using a rat model by analysing sperm quality, including its protamine content and DNA integrity, as well as pregnancy rate. Five groups of male Wistar rats were treated for 10 weeks as follows: nandrolone decanoate (10 mg kg(-1) per week) (ND); running exercise (50 min per day, 5 days a week) (EX); Combination of ND and exercise (ND-EX); nandrolone decanoate solvent (Sham); and control without any injection or exercise (CO). Deterioration in sperm quantity was observed in all test groups (P ≤ 0.01). The frequency of fertile rats was decreased in the ND-EX and ND groups (P ≤ 0.05). Chromomycin-A3 staining showed a protamine deficiency in the epididymal spermatozoa in the ND-EX rats (P ≤ 0.05). Chromatin analysis indicated an abnormal maturation of the sperm nuclei in all test groups compared with the controls (P ≤ 0.05). TUNEL analyses showed a highly significant increase in apoptosis in the EX, ND, and ND-EX groups (P ≤ 0.01). Our data show that a combination of exercise and high doses of nandrolone decanoate negatively influences the DNA integrity and protamine content resulting in lower sperm quality and reduced pregnancy rate.

Molecular morphology and function of bull spermatozoa linked to histones and associated with fertility

“…Relatively few studies have examined the association of the ANBL test and bull fertility (Vieytes et al 2008). Among the species, the percentage of ANBL-positive sperm cells has been found to be variable, such as 1% in mice (Shokri et al 2013), 10% in cats (Hingst et al 1995), 10% in rabbits (Steger et al 2005), and 50% in roosters (Santiago-Moreno et al 2009). In bulls, the percentage of ANBL-stained sperm cells was 1-10%, which was associated with sperm chromatin instability and DNA damage (Khalifa et al 2008, Mukhopadhyay et al 2011.…”

The effect of silver nanoparticles on the reproductive system of adult male rats: A morphological, histological and DNA integrity study

“…The cells which settled during this time were counted by a light microscope (Zeiss, Munich, Germany) at ×200 magnification. 13…”

Investigating the protective effect of aerobic exercise on oxidative stress and histological damages of testicular tissue associated with chlorpyrifos in male rats

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