HISTOMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS ON THE TESTICULAR TISSUE OF RATS WITH ALLOXAN DIABETES AND CHINESE HAMSTERS WITH SPONTANEOUS DIABETES

Abstract

ABSTRACT A qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of testicular tissue was made in 15 rats with alloxan diabetes, 11 Chinese hamsters with spontaneous diabetes, and 6 control animals of each species to determine whether morphological changes also occur in the diabetic test animal. Histometric determinations in both test groups showed a marked decrease in germinal epithelium throughout the testicular tissue and an increase in lumen. The interstitial tissue showed no significant quantitative dissimilarity between healthy and diseased animals. In both animal species we found that the more serious the metabolic disorder was during the period of observation, the more marked were the changes in the germinal epithelium and in the lumen. Qualitatively, disorders of various degrees were found, from a reduced number of sperms and spermatids to severe inhibition of spermatogenesis with cessation of spermatogenesis at the stage of primary spermatocytes. In addition, we observed in both animal species, a marked decline in the number of Leydig cells in cases of severe metabolic disorder. In the diabetic animal as well as in the diabetic human male, the changes in the testes can be determined histologically and both are indicative of hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism frequently encountered in diabetes mellitus.