QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Mason, K. E. Articles by Mauer, S. I. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Mason, K. E. Articles by Mauer, S. I.

Reversible Testis Injury in the Vitamin E-deficient Hamster^{1, 2,}

Department of Anatomy, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York 14620

Syrian hamsters fed four different vitamin E-deficient diets from the time of weaning showed, after 60 days or more, progressive testicular atrophy. Histologically, there was a decrease in size of seminiferous tubules, reduced spermatogenic activity, marked thinning of the germinal epithelium, loss of orderly arrangement of germ cells, and accumulation of acid-fast pigment in Sertoli cells. In 75 hamsters, comparisons were made between the histology of one testis and epididymis surgically ablated after 75–160 days and the other organs obtained at necropsy after 10, 20, 30, and 40 days of vitamin E therapy. Daily oral supplements of 2 mg of d--tocopheryl acetate proved marginally beneficial, whereas supplements of 10 mg daily were highly effective in repairing the germinal epithelium, in causing the reappearance of spermatozoa in ducts of the epididymis, and in removing acid-fast pigment. The testis injury in the vitamin E-deficient hamster, with respect to both the degenerative changes in the germinal epithelium and their repairability after vitamin E therapy, stand in striking contrast with the irrevocable testis injury characteristic of the vitamin E-deficient rat.

KEY WORDS: • vitamin E deficiency • testis degeneration • testis repair • d--tocopheryl acetate • acid-fast pigment

¹ These studies were initiated through a grant-in-aid from the Nutrition Foundation, Inc., and were later extended with support of a grant (AM 00938) from the National Institute of Arthritis. Metabolism and Digestive Diseases. National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

² A preliminary report of these studies was presented before the American Association of Anatomists in Baltimore, Md. (1957) Anat. Rec. 127, 329.

³ Present address: National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases (EP), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. 20014.

⁴ Present address: Veterans Administration Hospital, Albany, N.Y. 12208.

Manuscript received 4 October 1974.