The Effect of Spinal Cord Injury on Spermatogenesis in Rats

Noh, Joon Hwa; Park, Soon Man; Oh, Bong Ryoul; Ryu, Soo Bang; Park, Yang Il

Abstract

Male infertility occurs after spinal cord injury (SCI). However, little is known about the effect of SCI on male reproductive function. We evaluated objective assessment of spermatogenesis of spinal cord injured rats by quantitative micrometry and DNA flow cytometry analysis at various time intervals. SCI was produce(B in 30 rats by 710 spinal cord transection. Controls received similar surgery without transaction. From 10 randomly selected seminiferous tubules per subject the mean number of mature spermatids, Sertoli cells, tubular diameter and tubular wall thickness were determined in both groups. The percentage of haploid, diploid and tetraploid cells were determined of each subject by DNA (low cytometry, Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. In the SCI rats the mean number of spermatid per tubule was significantly lower (p=0.01) than that of controls. The mean number of Sertoli cells per tubule was not different from that of controls. Mean of spermatid to Sertoli cell ratio per seminiferous tubule in SCI rats was significantly lower than in controls (p=0.048). No significant differences of tubulr wall thickness, diameter and percentage of haploid cells were noted between both groups. These results suggest that the effect of SCI on spermatogenesis is associated with inadequacy of spermatid formation and maturation delay of spermatid.