Morphological and enzyme histochemical changes in the reproductive tract of the male rat induced by acetylsalicylic acid

Abstract

Summary Although the occurrence of prostaglandins in the male reproductive organs is consistent, their physiological role in fertility and reproduction is not known. The influence of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis, on the male reproductive tract was investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats of proven fertility. ASA dissolved in phosphate buffer was administered once a day at different dose levels (300 mg/kg body weight and 150 mg/kg body weight) for periods of 12 and six days. The animals were killed twenty-four hours after the final treatment and specimens of the testes, epididymides, ductus deferens, seminal vesicles, kidneys and adrenal glands were prepared for light microscopic and histochemical study. At doses of 150 mg/kg body weight and 300 mg/kg body weight for periods of 12 and six days respectively, ASA produced morphological changes in the germinal epithelium including intra-epithelial spaces, cells with pyknotic nuclei, and necrotic cells concentrated in the peripheral layers of the germinal epithelium of stage IX seminiferous tubules from which spermatozoa are released. The highest treatment level (300 mg/kg body weight for 12 days) was not associated with any morphological lesions in the germinal epithelium. Enzyme histochemical study revealed that treatment with acetylsalicylic acid at different dosages (150 mg/kg body weight and 300 mg/kg body weight) for an extended period (12 days) produced an increase in free acid phosphatase activity, but a decrease in the activity of alkaline phosphatase. This could be related to the intercellular spaces observed in the germinal epithelium of animals treated with ASA at the former dose level. The activity of cytochrome oxidase was also altered in animals showing morphological changes in the testes. The drug may therefore affect the respiratory chain which involves cytochrome oxidase. How these morphological and enzyme-histochemical changes are related to the specific action of acetylsalicylic acid still remains to be determined.