Influence of cigarette smoking and diabetes on fertility and spermatogenesis of male rats: hormonal, histological and histochemical studies

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus and their combination on serum levels of total testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone [FSH], luteinizing hormone [LH], percentage of morphologically abnormal sperms, testicular weight, histology and histochemistry. This study divided 40 male rats into 4 equal groups Group I served as controls, group II was exposed to the smoke of 20 cigarettes/day, group III was rendered diabetic by a single intraperitoneal injection of 40 mg/kg body weight streptozotocin, while group IV was rendered diabetic and subjected to cigarette smoking. The experimental work continued for 65 days. The results showed that either cigarette smoking or diabetes produced a significant decrease in serum levels of FSH, LH, testosterone, diameters of seminiferous tubules and thickness of the spermatogenic cells versus the control group