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Morphological effects of the catecholestrogens on cells of the seminiferous tubules of Sprague‐Dawley rats
Author(s) -
Seegers J. C.,
Aswegen C. H.,
Nieuwoudt B. L.,
Joubert W. S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
andrologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1439-0272
pISSN - 0303-4569
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0272.1991.tb02576.x
Subject(s) - testosterone (patch) , endocrinology , medicine , giant cell , seminiferous tubule , andrology , chemistry , testicle , gonadotropin , multinucleate , biology , spermatogenesis , sertoli cell , hormone , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Summary. Estradiol‐17β (E 2 ) and the two catecholestrogens 2‐OHE 2 and 4‐OHE 2 , when daily administered at low doses of 10–40 ng/rat, were cytotoxic to the seminiferous epithelium. The structural changes seen after seven days exposure included abnormal meiotic type II cells with uneven chromosome distribution, the formation of binucleated and multinucleated giant cells, of which many were sloughed into the lumina of the seminiferous tubules. The effect of the 4‐OHE 2 metabolites were always more pronounced than that of 2‐OHE 2 or E 2 . After 21 daily exposures, 4‐OHE 2 proved to be very toxic, the seminiferous tubules were markedly denuded and numerous giant cells were present in the lumina. The catecholestrogens also caused a significant lowering ( P < 0.02) of testosterone serum levels after eight days exposure. E 2 at 40 ng/rat/day had no effect on testosterone production. At these low doses the catecholestrogens did not affect gonadotropin release after eight days exposure. Our results indicate that the morphological lesions could not exclusively be attributed to testosterone withdrawal and that a direct effect on developing spermatids is also indicated.