Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the supportive effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) on the quality of spermatogenesis, including count, motility, morphology, viability and apoptosis of sperm following forced swimming exercise. Twenty-four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. All rats were divided into four groups: control group; swimming exercise group (S); hCG administration group and swimming (SG) with hCG administration group (G). The experimental group was trained to force swimming stress for 10 min for 6 days. Then the sperm quality parameters were measured after dissection and epididymis removal. Spermatogenesis and germ cell apoptosis were evaluated by using Miller & Johnsen's score and TUNEL staining respectively. Results showed the count (control: 113±3.1, S: 74±1.9, G: 111±3, and SG: 103±2.4), motility (control: 93±2, S: 67±2.8,G: 90±2.7, and SG: 78±1), morphology (control: 89±3%, S: 47±2.4%, G: 90±3.1%, and SG: 67±1.1%), and viability of sperm (control: 91±2.9, S: 50±2, G: 91±1.9, and SG: 70±1.3) in swimming exercised-hCG administered group, significantly enhanced by hCG treatment compared to the swimming exercise group (p≤0.01). Also the number of apoptotic germ cells significantly decreased in swimming exercised-hCG administered group compared to the swimming exercised group. These results suggest that administration of hCG can protect the testes against the detrimental effect of forced swimming exercise in adult male rats.
Highlights
AIMExercise has many health advantages including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.Yet it is paradoxical that the contracting skeletal muscles produce free radicals and intense exercise can cause oxidative damage to cellular constituents
The scores of spermatogenesis quality in seminiferous tubules were obtained according to the maturity of germ cells.[22]
The testis was embedded in paraffin wax and 7-μm thick sections were obtained by using a rotary microtome
Summary
AIMExercise has many health advantages including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.Yet it is paradoxical that the contracting skeletal muscles produce free radicals and intense exercise can cause oxidative damage to cellular constituents. Intense exercise can lead to increased oxidative stress in athletes and non-athletes.[1] Cellular oxidative stress, by inducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), causes many abnormalities in different tissues.[2] There are several studies in human and animal models which have reported the association of exercise with the production of ROS.[3,4,5] Several researchers have demonstrated that longterm exercise may cause dysfunctions in the male reproductive system.[6,7] Prolonged swimming has been shown to change the function of the male reproductive system such as decline of spermatogenesis, testosterone production and sperm fertilizing capacity.[8] Forced intensive swimming, as a strenuous exercise, leads to the oxidation of biological molecules (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, etc.) with the ROS generation.[9] Like other tissues, the testes are affected by long physical exercises.[10] the testes are more susceptible to peroxidation damage because of the lower anti-oxidative enzymes and higher amount of polyunsaturated lipids in the mitochondrial membrane.[11] By producing oxidative stress, exercise reduces spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis, and spermatozoa survival in the testes.[7] intensive swimming exercise disrupts male fertility by declining the gonadosomatic index (GSI), the number of spermatocytes and spermatids and the sperm count in epididymis.[12,13]
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