Protection of Spermatogenesis During Cancer Chemotherapy

Abstract

The ability of androgen pretreatment in adult Wistar rats to protect the spermatogonial stem cells from one or two doses of the cytotoxic procarbazine (PCB) was investigated. Survival of stem cells was assessed by a tubule regeneration assay. Ten weeks' pretreatment of the rats with 200 m2 silastic implants containing testosterone resulted in significant protection of the spermatogonial stem cells from PCB-induced damage. Androgen-pretreated rats given a single dose of 200 mglkg PCB demonstrated 86% tubule regeneration as opposed to 41% in rats pretreated with cholesterol. Similar values were obtained when the PCB dose was given as two weekly fractions of 100 mg/kg. The protective effect of androgen is present from the time of the initial challenge with the cytotoxic drug.

Protection by Gonadal Steroid Hormones Against Procarbazine‐Induced Damage to Spermatogenic Function in LBNF1 Hybrid Rats

“…The lack of increased weight is attributed to the fact that only 12% of the seminiferous tubules of the T-treated animals showed repopulation, and most ofthese tubules contained only spermatogonia, which do not contribute significantly to the testis weight. However, the results obtained at lower cumulative doses of PCZ show concordance of all three end points for spermatogenic function, i.e., testis weight, sperm head counts, and RI, as previously observed by Ward et al (1990) and Delic (1987).…”

Attempted Protection of Spermatogenesis From Single Doses of Gamma-Irradiation in the Androgen Pretreated Rat

“…This is in contrast to the protection found from procarbazine-induced damage by the same approach [ 5 ] . Although in the earlier study procarbazine was given as four weekly doses, this does not explain the lack of protection (that we found after single gamma-ray doses in a later study); Delic [9] also found protection of rat spermatogenesis when procarbazine was given as a single dose of 200 mg/kg. The only difference between the two studies is the mode of androgen pretreatment.…”

“…It has recently been demonstrated that protection of spermatogenesis from a single dose of the agent procarbazine can be achieved in rats by pretreatment of the animals with exogenous androgen [9]. In this study we have investigated whether similar protection can be obtained from damage induced by single doses of gamma irradiation.…”

“…The only difference between the two studies is the mode of androgen pretreatment. In the single-dose procarbazine study [9], silastic implants containing T were employed whereas in the present study T enanthate was injected. Even so, both modes of pretreatment have been demonstrated to produce the same degree of suppression of spermatogenesis [8].…”

Protection gonadique contre les effets iatrogènes des traitements anticancéreux: données expérimentales

“…Les travaux de Delic et coll. [5,7] ont prou-v~ l'int~r~t des androg~nes (oenanthate de testosterone) dans le domaine de la protection. Ces r~sultats d'ordre strictement quantitatif montrent qu'il existe une grande variabilit~ du degr~ de protection, en fonction de la dose et du mode d'administration du st~ro~de, ainsi qu'en fonction de l'agent antimitotique impliqu~.…”