Morphology and cell numbers change of testis and epididymis in male rats with diabetes mellitus

Objective To study the testis and epididymis morphology and cell numbers change of male rats with short-term diabetes mellitus(DM).Methods 33 normal male SD rats were randomly divided into control group(n=10) and DM group(n=23).The diabetic animal model was established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin,30 days later the testis and epididymis were removed to make sections,observed the histological structure change under light microscope,and stereological method was used to estimate the numbers of various cells in the testis and sperm in the epididymis.Results Morphological observation results showed that the germ cells of the earlier stage of spermatogenic cycle arranged loosely in the seminiferous tubules,and the detained late elongated spermatids in some seminiferous tubules was observed in the DM group,besides different cell number in the testis were significantly decreased except the secondary spermatocytes and Sertoli cells,total number of sperm in epididymis significantly decreased by 47% in the DM group.Conclusion The morphological changes of testis or epididymis of male rats with short-term diabetes is not obvious,but the cell number of testis are significantly reduced,especially the number of mature sperm in epididymis decreased significantly,which may be mainly ascribed to testis spermiation impaired.