Ultrastructure of rat seminal vesicle epithelium in the acute phase of spinal cord transection

Abstract

Objective: After a spinal cord injury (SCI), most men experience fertility related problems including poor semen quality in which decreased sperm viability and motility, have been proposed to be related to the accessory sex glands dysfunction. In this study, we investigated the probable effects of SCI on the seminal vesicle epithelium in rat.Methods: Spinal cord was injured in adult male rats by surgical transection at the level of T9. Controls received similar surgery without transection. Five days later, animals were killed and the seminal vesicles were removed, subjected to routine procedures for light and transmission electron microscopy respectively.Results: Acute inflammation of the seminal vesicles including vasodilatation and migration of leukocytes to epithelium was observed through the light microscopy. Transmission electron microscopy study revealed significant changes in the experimental epithelium, such as decrease in rough endoplasmic reticulum, secretory granules and Golgi apparatus dimensions, accumulations of fat droplets and lipofuscin in the cytoplasm, euchromatinized and swelled nuclei, decrease in cell diameters, and the presence of macrophages and hollow spaces in the epithelium. The seminal vesicle of sham-operated animals showed normal morphology.Discussion: Histologic evidence in this study confirms dysfunction of seminal vesicle in the acute phase of SCI. Further works are needed to follow up the reversibility of such lesions.