Hypobaric hypoxia causes deleterious effects on spermatogenesis in rats

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore the effects of hypobaric hypoxia on spermatogenesis in rats. Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: three hypoxia-exposed groups and one normoxic control group. Rats in the normoxic control group were raised at an altitude of 300 m, while rats in the 5-, 15-, and 30-day hypoxic groups were raised in a hypobaric chamber simulating a high altitude of 5000 m for 5, 15, and 30 days respectively. Flow cytometry was used to detect the DNA content of testicular spermatogenic cells in rats. The apoptosis of germ cells in testis was analyzed by using TUNEL assay. Spermatogenesis was also evaluated by morphology. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that 5-30 days of hypobaric hypoxia exposure significantly reduced the percentage of tetraploid cell population in rat testis. After rats were exposed to hypobaric hypoxia for 30 days, the ratio of haploid and diploid cell populations in testis reduced significantly. Seminiferous tubules with apoptotic germ cell increased after exposure to hypoxia. Most apoptotic germ cells were spermatogonia and spermatocytes. Hypoxia also caused decrease of cellularity of seminiferous epithelium, degeneration and sloughing of seminiferous epithelial cells occasionally. The data suggest that hypobaric hypoxia inhibits the spermatogenesis in rats. Decrease of tetraploid spermatogenic cells (primary spermatocytes) induced by hypoxia is an important approach to suppress spermatogenesis. The apoptosis of primary spermatocytes and spermatogonia may contribute to the loss of tetraploid cell populations.

Endogenous EGF maintains Sertoli germ cell anchoring junction integrity and is required for early recovery from acute testicular ischemia/reperfusion injury

“…2B). The flow cytometric DNA content distribution of various germ cells is well characterized by the presence of three main distinct peaks, representing spermatid (1C, including elongated spermatid and round spermatid), diploid spermatogonia (2C), and primary spermatocyte (4C) populations (Liao et al 2010). In line with previous report (Tsutsumi et al 1986), our FACS analysis revealed a significantly increasing percentage of 4C in sialoadenectomized testis.…”

The potential role of mesenchymal stem cells in a hypoxia model induced by sodium nitrite in testes of male albino rats

“…Our histopathological results are in agreement with observations of Liao et al (2010) (Liao et al, 2010), who found that hypobaric hypoxia animal models show a reduction in germ cell numbers, extremely vacuolated Sertoli cells, pyknotic germ cells, decrease in Leydig cell number, increase of testicular blood vessels diameter, and alterations in testosterone levels. Degeneration and necrosis of some spermatogenic cells in association with other pathological changes were detected in the testicular tissues of rats whose diet is supplemented with variable concentrations of NaNO 2 .…”

Reversible Effect of High Altitude on Rat Testis Morphology and Spermatogenesis: Histological and Ultrastructural Study

“…al, , 2012Bustos-Obregón et al, 2006;Vargas et al, 2011). Morphological studies have revealed that chronic hypoxia causes significant decreases in testicular and epididymal masses (Farias et al, 2005a;Liao et al, 2010). The current study has shown that partial recovery in the levels of these parameters began to reverse during the 4 th week of HA exposure.…”