Testicular morphometry of rats with Walker 256 tumor supplemented with L-glutamine.

Nayara Rodrigues Rocha,Luciane Fracaro,Janine Karla França Da Silva Braz,Jacqueline Nelisis Zanoni,Sara Raquel Garcia De Souza,Naianne Kelly Clebis,Carlos Eduardo Bezerra De Moura,Fabiana Cristina Silveira Alves De Melo,Danielle Barbosa Morais

doi:10.1590/1984-3143-ar2020-0051

Abstract

Glutamine is often used to treat metabolic changes associated with anorexia-cachexia syndrome in patients with malignant neoplasms. Walker 256 tumor is an excellent model for studying these changes associated with cancer in different organs, including injuries in testicular functions. However, the effects of supplementing glutamine on testicular morphometry in this model have not yet been investigated. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of L-glutamine supplementation on testicular morphometry in rats transplanted with Walker 256 tumor cells. Forty puberty Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control without L-glutamine (C); control supplemented with L-glutamine (CG); inoculated with Walker 256 tumor cells (WT) and inoculated with Walker 256 tumor cells and supplemented with L-glutamine (WTG). The testicles were removed, weighed, fixed in Bouin, and included in paraffin for histomorphometric analysis. Walker 256 tumor caused quantitative changes in the tubular and intertubular compartments and tunica albuginea, with reductions in the percentages of lumen and tunica albuginea, number of Sertoli cells per gram of testis; number of Leydig cells; percentage of blood vessels and connective tissue in intertubule. However, glutamine supplementation prevented part of these changes caused by the tumor, presenting mainly a protective effect on the tunica albuginea and percentage of blood and lymph vessels in the intertubule. These results indicate the potential of L-glutamine was able to recover for testicular dysfunction associated with cancer.

Highlights

The Walker 256 tumor was discovered by George Walker in 1928 in the region of the mammary gland of a pregnant albino rat
Seminiferous tubules were composed of tunica propria, seminiferous epithelium and lumen
In the Walker tumor cells (WT) groups it were observed some areas of degeneration in the seminiferous epithelium (Figure 1c and 2c) and tunica propria detachment (Figure 1d)

Summary

Introduction

The Walker 256 tumor was discovered by George Walker in 1928 in the region of the mammary gland of a pregnant albino rat This tumor has become one of the few experimental models available with high rate of proliferation, rapid development, rare inoculation failures, and spontaneous regression (Moraes et al, 2000; Shaughnessy et al, 1991; Silva et al, 2002; Simpkins et al, 1991). One of the mechanisms of action of tumor cells is the ability to use various sources of energy such as glucose, lipids, ketone bodies, and amino acids For this reason, patients with Walker 256 tumor have hypoglycemia with progressive weight loss (Lira et al, 2012; Copyright © The Author(s).

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