Effects of electromagnetic pulse on reproduction of adult male mice

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) on reproductive function of male adult mice. Methods A total of 48 healthy adult male BALB/c mice (8 weeks old) were randomly divided into sham group and EMP group with 24 animals in each group. The mice were whole-body exposed or sham exposed to EMP at 720 kV/m for 100 pulses with 1 Hz repetition rate and 40 ns pulse width. At 1, 7, 14 and 35 d after EMP exposure, the mice were anesthetized and the sperms were collected from the bilateral epididymal tail. After that, the sperm quality including the number of sperms, the ratio of abnormalities and the survival rate was evaluated. In addition, the morphology of testis was observed by HE staining and the diameter of seminiferous tubules was measured by Image J 1.43 u software. The protein level of stem cell factor (SCF) and glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in testis tissue were detected by ELISA and Western blot. Results The sperm quality and the morphology of testis did not change obviously at different times after exposing mice to EMP at 720 kV/m for 100 pulses, compared with sham group (P>0.05). The diameters of seminiferous tubules at 1, 7, 14 and 35 d after exposure were (196.85±16.65), (196.79±14.33), (196.35±22.71) and (198.60±25.88) μm in exposed mice, respectively, while (204.31±27.13), (197.07±18.11), (194.37±21.45) and (200.59±19.36) μm in sham exposed mice, respectively. There was no significant difference between two groups (P>0.05). Additionally, the levels of SCF and GDNF in testis tissue between EMP group and sham group had no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). Conclusion Under this exposure condition, EMP couldn′t affect the reproductive function of male adult mice. Key words: Electromagnetic pulse; Mice; Testis; Sperm quality; Seminiferous tubules