Morphological Evaluation of Testis Tissue of Rats in Various Time Points after Diabetes Type 1 Induction

Abstract Objective: Previous studies have indicated the hyperglycemia-induce cell death in various tissues such as brain, kidneys, liver and especially in the testis. Recent studies have reported that diabetes can trigger male infertility. In this study we report the histological analysis of the testis tissue after diabetes type 1 induction in wistar rats. Materials and Methods: At various time intervals after diabetes type 1 induction, testicular cell was assessed in the controls and in the diabetic rats. Hyperglycemia was induced in male wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of drug streptozotocin (STZ). At different time points (4, 6, 8 and 20 weeks) post diabetes type 1 induction, rats were euthanized and testicular tissues were removed for histological analysis. Their testes were fixed in formaldehyde (37%), embedded in paraffin and then sectioned (4µm thick). They were further deparaffinized, stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin (H&E) and DAPI, and observed under light and fluorescence microscope, respectively. Results: Histological results showed reduced cell density in testis, which indicates that diabetes type 1 and hyperglycemia conditions impair normal cell density in testis tissue. The changes in seminiferous tubules from 4 weeks to 20 weeks were also observed. The testicular histology of diabetic animals shows that the maximum reduction in cell density occurred after 20 weeks. Conclusion: The induced diabetic condition provides evidence that hyperglycemia plays an important role in pathogenesis of diabetes, and also indicated that chronic hyperglycemia eventually leads to cell death and male infertility. Probably, the consequent of inflammatory condition of hyperglycemia resulted in apoptotic-related gene products and testicular dysfunction which has an important implication for infertility, and offer new chances for therapeutic interventions.