1996 Volume 9 Issue 3 Pages 285-292
In order to examine the usefulness of simplified quantitative morphometry with stage grouping analysis of spermatogenic cycle for assessing testicular toxicity, ten-week-old male rats received a single dose of 100mg/kg body weight ethylene-1, 2-dimethanesulfonate (EDS). At 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28 days after the EDS treatment, animals were sacrificed for histopathological evaluation. The stages of the spermatogenic cycle were classified into four major groups (stages I-VI, VII-VIII, IX-XI, XII-XIV) for simplified screening. The numbers of seminiferous epithelial cells at each designated stage were counted in a total of 5 seminiferous tubules of each group per animal. The results were compared with those obtained from a strict stage analysis of the seminiferous tubules in the individual stages II-III, V, VII, X, and XII. With both analyses, Leydig cells were found to have disappeared in the interstitial tissue within 3 days after the EDS treatment, and decreases of pachytene spermatocytes and round spermatids were observed in the seminiferous tubules thereafter. The results of the present screening morphometry, using classification of stages into four groups, were similar to those from the strict stage analysis. We propose that the simplified approach tested in the present study can be applied to advantage for the evaluation of testicular toxicity.
