Glutamate-induced obesity leads to decreased sperm reserves and acceleration of transit time in the epididymis of adult male rats

Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology

Research

Glaura SA Fernandes¹  Arielle C Arena²  Wilma G Kempinas²  Janete A Anselmo-Franci³  Gustavo T Volpato⁴  Kleber E Campos⁴  Débora C Damasceno⁵ 

[1]Biological Sciences Center, State University of Londrina, UEL, Londrina, PR, Brazil

[2]Department of Morphology, Institute of Biosciences, UNESP - UnivEstadualPaulista, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

[3]Department of Physiology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, USP, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

[4]Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, UFMT, Barra do Garça, MT, Brazil

[5]Laboratory of Experimental Research on Gynecology and Obstetrics, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Botucatu Medical School, UNESP - UnivEstadualPaulista, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

关键词: Obesity;    Monosodium glutamate;    Epididymis;    Testosterone;    Sperm;    Rat;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1477-7827-10-105

 received in 2012-08-30, accepted in 2012-11-29,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGiven the established fact that obesity interferes with male reproductive functions, the present study aimed to evaluate sperm production in the testis and storage in the epididymis in a glutamate-induced model of obesity.MethodsMale rats were treated neonatally with monosodium glutamate (MSG) at doses of 4 mg/kg subcutaneously, or with saline solution (control group), on postnatal days 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. On day 120, obesity was confirmed by the Lee index in all MSG-treated rats. After this, all animals from the two experimental groups were anesthetized and killed to evaluate body and reproductive organ weights, sperm parameters, plasma hormone levels (FSH, LH and testosterone), testicular and epididymal histo-morphometry and histopathology.ResultsSignificant reductions in absolute and relative weights of testis, epididymis, prostate and seminal vesicle were noted in MSG-treated animals. In these same animals plasma testosterone and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) concentrations were decreased, as well as sperm counts in the testis and epididymis and seminiferous epithelium height and tubular diameter. The sperm transit time was accelerated in obese rats. However, the number of Sertoli cells per seminiferous tubule and stereological findings on the epididymis were not markedly changed by obesity.ConclusionsNeonatal MSG-administered model of obesity lowers sperm production and leads to a reduction in sperm storage in the epididymis of adult male rats. The acceleration of sperm transit time can have implications for the sperm quality of these rats.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Fernandes et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.