Artículos de revistas
Effects of guanethidine-induced sympathectomy on the spermatogenic and steroidogenic testicular functions of prepubertal to mature rats
Fecha
1996-03-01Registro en:
Andrologia. Berlin: Blackwell Wissenschafts-verlag Gmbh, v. 28, n. 2, p. 117-122, 1996.
0303-4569
10.1111/j.1439-0272.1996.tb02766.x
WOS:A1996UB18400007
6326450271169741
Autor
Universidade de São Paulo (USP)
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Institución
Resumen
Selective chemical sympathectomy of the internal genital organs of prepubertal to mature male Wistar rats was performed by chronic treatment with low doses of guanethidine. Sympathetic denervation caused an increase in intratesticular progesterone levels in prepubertal and early pubertal rats in addition to a decrease in androstenedione and testosterone levels in prepubertal animals, thus indicating a decrease in the conversion of progesterone into androgen, probably by blocking the steroidogenic enzymatic pathway at the 17 alpha-hydroxylase/17,20 desmolase level. A lower degree of testicular maturation, probably related to reduced androgen activity, was observed in prepubertal and early pubertal sympathectomized rats. Concentration of spermatozoa, on the other hand, was increased in the enlarged cauda epididymidis of late pubertal and mature denervated animals. This result is discussed in terms of the impairment of epididymal mechanisms of seminal emission, fluid resorption and spermatozoal disposal.