Impaired reproduction in adult male, but not female, rats following juvenile treatment with the aromatase inhibitor, exemestane

Abstract

There were no effects on sexual maturation in either sex or on female reproductive function. Treatment of juvenile male rats caused increased cohabitation time and decreased copulation rates; pregnancy rates and litter size were not affected in rats that mated. Decreased testis (10-15%) and epididymis (20-30%) weights, and decreased Sertoli cell numbers were noted at all doses. This indicates that exemestane can reduce Sertoli cell proliferation during maturation. The sensitive window for this effect is expected to be limited to the period of Sertoli cell proliferation, which is completed by around postnatal day 15 in rats and before puberty in humans. Treatment beginning at a later time relative to the window for Sertoli cell proliferation or for a longer duration is not expected to have additional adverse effect as the effect was not shown to be degenerative.

Circulating antimüllerian hormone levels in boys decline during early puberty and correlate with inhibin B

“…This may, in theory, shorten the peripubertal time window for proliferation of immature Sertoli cells. It is not known whether increased intratesticular testosterone concentration influences the final Sertoli cell number, but, according to a recent report, aromatase inhibitor treatment of male rats during peripuberty resulted in a decreased number of Sertoli cells (23). For ethics reasons, we did not perform biopsies of the testes, and thus only indirect evidence is available on the effect of letrozole on Sertoli cell number.…”

Human fascioliasis in Argentina: retrospective overview, critical analysis and baseline for future research

“…This diagnostic method, today known to be insufficiently specific [70] and considered obsolete for the diagnosis of individual patients although still potentially useful as a quick indicator within broad field screening, seems to have been quite commonly used in Argentina in the sixties, seventies and eighties (in chronological order): 1 case [86], 17 cases [87], 12 cases [49], 4 cases [50], and 29 cases [41]. Since there has never been a commercial or standardized test, details on antigen and correlation with other diagnostic tests noted in the aforementioned articles need to be taken into account.…”

“…The most frequently reported parasite co-infecting with F. hepatica appears to be Echinococcus granulosus , including a total of 14 patients reported to simultaneously present both parasites. All of these cases were from an hydatidosis endemic zone in Mendoza province [87,97]. This relative high number of fascioliasis-hydatidosis co-infected patients is outstanding, as such a co-infection has never been detected in human endemic areas of other countries so far.…”

Teasing out the role of aromatase in the healthy and diseased testis

“…It has been shown in rats that neonatal exposure to exemestane results in a moderate decrease in Sertoli cell number but with no differences in sperm output and fertility as assessed by older morphometric approaches to quantitation. 69 In fish, (the three-spot wrasse), treatment with long-term exemestane, resulted in decreased spermatogonial proliferation suggesting aromatase plays a role in supporting early germ cell development. 70 Whether these cellular effects are a result of a direct effect on the developing germ cells or via the Sertoli cell remains unknown.…”