HIGHER ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURES PROMOTE ACCELERATION OF SPERMATOGENESIS IN VIVO IN MICE (Mus musculus)

Publication date: Available online 23 July 2018Source: Journal of Thermal BiologyAuthor(s): Guilherme M.J. Costa, Samyra M.S.N. Lacerda, André F.A. Figueiredo, Marcelo C. Leal, José V. Rezende-Neto, Luiz R. FrançaAbstractTemperature is considered a crucial modulator of reproductive activity and testis homeostasis. It is well known that elevated temperatures cause several effects on testicular components, particularly on germ cells, which might lead to the impairment of spermatogenesis and loss of male fertility. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of different environmental temperatures on several morphofunctional testis parameters, with emphasis on duration of spermatogenesis and spermatogenic efficiency. Thirty sexually mature Swiss mice (Mus musculus) were allocated in three different experimental groups, being kept in vivarium for three weeks at 16 °C, 23 °C (control group) and 32 °C. In order to estimate the duration of spermatogenesis, three animals per each group received intraperitoneal injections of tritiated thymidine and the testes were perfused-fixed and routinely processed for histological, morphometrical and immunoperoxidase analyses. Although the lower temperature (16 °C) did not change most of the evaluated testicular parameters, our findings showed that higher environmental temperature (32 °C) is able to alter important testis parameters, resulting for instance in acceleration of spermatogenesis, alterations in the...
Source: Journal of Thermal Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: research