Short-Period Influence of Chronic Morphine Exposure on Serum Levels of Sexual Hormones and Spermatogenesis in Rats

Abstract

BackgroundIncreased rates of addiction and its broad societal complications are well known. One of the most important systems that may malfunction in drug abusers is the reproductive system, and evaluating patients for this potential risk may lead to increased awareness.Materials and MethodsThirty 60-day-old male rats were divided into control and target groups. The target group underwent 5 mg/kg intraperitoneal injections of morphine twice a day while the control group underwent normal saline injections (at the same dosage). After 60 days, the rats were anesthetized, and after blood sampling, they underwent bilateral orchiepididymectomy. Histological and hormonal evaluations were performed on the samples.ResultsLevels of sex hormonal features and spermatogenesis were significantly reduced in the target group compared to the control group. LH levels showed a meaningful decrease in the target group, but FSH and testosterone levels did not. On histological section analysis, mature sperm were meaningfully decreased in the target group.ConclusionsChronic use of opioids may lead to alterations in sexual features and sexual hormones. Therefore, opioids have the potential to cause infertility. These changes may result from the effect of the drugs on the hypophysis or hypothalamus, the direct effect of the drugs on the seminiferous tubules, or a combination of both. The findings suggest that public awareness about addiction may cause decreased infertility rates.

Substance Abuse and Male Hypogonadism

“…Also the distribution of Leydig and Sertoli cells did not differ from the two groups. However, the dose of morphine administered was on average lower than in the other studies [138]. These findings are partially in agreement with a study of Cicero and colleagues, where morphine treatment did not induce histological changes in the testis of rats treated with morphine.…”

“…Another study found reduced LH levels in rats chronically treated with morphine, but FSH and testosterone levels did not significantly differ compared to controls. However, in this study the morphine administered dose was relatively low [138].…”

Effect of edible camphor administrations on levels of steroid and thyroid hormones in male wistar rats

“…Also, it may be due to decreased secretion of GnRH by the hypothalamus, or failure of the anterior pituitary to respond to GnRH stimulation. According to Carou et al [30], administration of camphor in rats caused slight reduction in levels of LH, FSH, and (GnRH) in vitro, while similar findings have also been reported in rats following morphine [31][32][33][34], and alcohol exposures [35,36].…”

Morphological Features of Healthy and Pathological Uterus

“…Для вивчення впливу екзогенних та ендогенних факторів на репродуктивну систему, а саме на цільовий органматкунайдоцільнішим методом є експериментальне моделювання [1,7,16,19]. У ході наших досліджень було проведено порівняльний аналіз матки білого лабораторного щура та людини.…”

“…Окремої уваги заслуговують дослідження присвячені впливу наркотичних анальгетиків на структуру жіночих статевих органів, зокрема на будову стінки матки [1,4,5,9]. Maryam Dehghan та співавтори досліджували вплив морфіну на матку вагітних щурів.…”