Effects of alcohol on reproductive system of male rats

Forty healthy Sprague-Dawley adult male rats were randomly divided into four groups with varied doses of alcohol(0 g/kg,2.7 g/kg,4.5 g/kg and 7.5 g/kg)administrated for 13 weeks by gastric tubes.Serum sexual hormones testosterone(T),luteinizing hormones(LH)and follicle stimulating hormones(FSH)were determined.Patholgical changes of tesits tissue of the rats were simultaneously observed by light microscopy and electron microscopy.Malondialdehyde(MDA)content of testis mitochondria was determined as well.Result showed that Serum T level in all alcohol-treated groups wes significantly lower than that in control group(P0.01).Serum levels of LH and FSH in alcohol-treated rats were also significantly lower than those in controls(P0.05).Light microscopic evaluation of the testis of the rats treated with alcohol revealed their germ cell nuclear pyknosis and degeneration,and increased exfoliated cells in tubular lumina.Electron microscopic analysis showed that seminiferous epithelium of alcohol-treated rats was disorganized and Sertoli cells and germ cells at all stages were degenerated,in a dose-dependent pattern.Content of MDA in the testis mitochondria of the rats treated with 4.5 g/kg and 7.5 g/kg was significantly higher than that in the controls(P0.01).It is (suggested) that alcohol is a known testis toxin which can directly act on the testis causing damage to germ cells and inhibition of synthesis of steroids,as well as dysfuncation of hypothalamic-pituitary axis in gonadotropin release.Lipid peroxidation may be a putative mechanism that contributes,at least in part,to the testis damage associated with chronic alcohol abuse.