Androgenic Anabolic Steroidal-Based Effects on the Morphology of Testicular Structures of Albino Rats

This study was aimed to identify the changes in the fine structure of the testis following chronic administration of testoviron. Thirty male adult albino rats of Wistar strain were taken in control or untreated group and thirty rats in the treated group. The animals of this group were medicated with intramuscular injection of testoviron at a dose of 1.143mg / rat in the gluteal region. The body weight and relative testicular weight of each animal was noted. One week after the last injection, the rats were sacrificed and their testes were removed for microtomy. Each testis was also observed for its size, shape, color, and consistency before microscopic examination. Three micron thick H & E stained sections were prepared to observe the quantitative and qualitative changes in the different parameters of testicular tissues. The histological sections of the testis revealed that there is a time related effects over spermatogenesis, resulting in the decrease in the relative weight of the testis and the number of seminiferous tubules along with the decrease in the number and the diameter of the interstitial cell nuclei in the treated animals. These finding were further confirmed by using Scanning electron microscopy. These results suggests that androgenic anabolic steroids produce toxic effects on the male reproductive tract, particularly the testicular tissues including the degenerative damage in the germ cells and Leydig cells that can affect spermatogenesis. We concluded that synthetic androgenic anabolic steroids affect fertility parameters and can cause testicular atrophy.