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Effect of Short‐Term Ethanol Feeding on Rat Testes as Assessed by 31P NMR Spectroscopy, 1H NMR Imaging, and Biochemical Methods
Author(s) -
Farghali Hassan,
Williams Donald S.,
Gavaler Judith,
Thiel David H. Van
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1991.tb05204.x
Subject(s) - ethanol , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , chemistry , tetramine , phosphocreatine , medicine , endocrinology , biochemistry , biology , energy metabolism , stereochemistry
31 P Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and 1 H NMR imaging were used to examine the effect of short‐term ethanol feeding on the rat testis. Weanling rats were pair‐fed for 10 weeks either on ethanol containing liquid diet (36% ethanol of total calories) or a diet in which dextrimaltose was isocalorically substituted for the ethanol of the alcohol‐containing diet. In vivo 31 P NMR of the testes was used to determine the intratesticular pH and the relative concentrations of various phosphorus‐containing metabolites. The integrity of the blood‐testes barrier was evaluated using 1 H NMR imaging following a gadolinium diethylene tetramine pentacetic acid derlvative (Gd‐DTPA) administration as a vascular contrast agent. After the completion of NMR studies, the testis and the liver were freezeclamped to allow for the assay of their adenosine‐5′‐triphosphate (ATP) contents. Serum was assayed for its content of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alcohol and testosterone. Ethanol feeding resulted in the following: (a) a reduction in the body weight (p < 0.05), (b) a reduction in the testicular phosphodiesters (PDE) PDE/ATP ratio ( p < 0.05), (c) an increased change in the testis image intensity difference between pre‐ and post‐iv Gd‐DTPA images, (c) a reduction in the testicular and hepatic content of ATP, and (d) increased serum levels of AST and ALT. Therefore, using NMR Spectroscopy and imaging, it has been possible to demonstrate that the metabolic alterations which occur in the testes in response to short‐term ethanol feeding within the present experimental protocol precede the reduction in the serum testosterone level produced by ethanol and is associated with an early disruption of the blood testes barrier.