ABSTRACT
Adult male Wister rats when administered with 15 mg/kg body weight/day of gossypol acetic acid proved to be sterile by 10 weeks of treatment. The weight of the whole epididymis did not deviate from the controls but when the caput, corpus and cauda epididymidis were considered separately, the cauda epididymidis weight was significantly reduced. The major changes were observed in the motor apparatus of the sperm. The most common defects in the sperm were the vacuolization and complete degeneration of the midpiece mitochondria and plasma membrane. The total LDH activity of caput and cauda epididymidis were within the range of control values. Sialic acid levels of the epididymis were not affected after the treatment. These results suggest a more proximal site of action of the drug than at the epididymal level.
Subject(s)
Animals , Cell Membrane/ultrastructure , Epididymis/analysis , Fertility/drug effects , Gossypol/pharmacology , L-Lactate Dehydrogenase/metabolism , Male , Microscopy, Electron , Organ Size/drug effects , Organelles/ultrastructure , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Sialic Acids/analysis , Vas Deferens/analysisSubject(s)
Animals , Castration , Epididymis/analysis , Glucose/analysis , Glycogen/analysis , Male , Rats , Rats, Inbred Strains , Testosterone/pharmacology , Vas Deferens/analysisABSTRACT
Insertion of a copper wire into the vas deferens of male rats released 4 micrograms of copper in themid portion of the vas deferens in two days time. In urethral and epidymal segments of the vas deferens copper released was less than one microgram. The present study demonstrates that the in vivo effects of 4 microgram of copper in 2 days time in the vas deferens are enough to induce antifertility in rats.