Impaired epididymal function of albino rats infected and treated with Trypanosoma brucei brucei and Trypanosoma congolense

AbstractThe effect of trypanosomosis (Trypanosoma brucei brucei andTrypanosoma congolense infection) and diminazene aceturate treatment on the epididymal function of male albino rats was investigated. Twenty-five adult male albino rats were used for this study. They were randomly assigned into 5 groups of 5 rats each. Group 1 was the uninfected untreated group while groups 2 and 3 were infected with 5  × 105T. congolense. Groups 4 and 5 were infected with 5  × 105T. brucei brucei. Rats in groups 2 and 4 were humanely sacrificed at the peak of parasitemia, i.e., on days 7 and 14 PI respectively and their epididymides dissected out for the enumeration of epididymal sperm cells. Groups 3 and 5 rats were treated with 3.5  mg/kg and 7 mg/kg diminazene aceturate (Tryponil®) respectively and later sacrificed at week 7 of the experiment. The epididymides of the rats were also dissected out and epididymal sperm reserves (ESR) of all the rats enumerated. Hyperacute and acute trypanosomosis were observed followingT. congolense andT. brucei brucei infections respectively. The uninfected control group had significantly higher (P ˂ 0.05) ESR compared with the infected groups with the group 3 rats having the least ESR, thus implying impaired epididymal function. There was an improvement (P ˂ 0.05) in the ESR of group 5 rats compared with the group 4 rats while treatment was of no effect in theT. congolense–treated group. It was therefore concluded that trypanosomal infe...
Source: Comparative Clinical Pathology - Category: Pathology Source Type: research