Effect of Experimental Diabetes and STZ on Male Fertility Capacity. Study in Rats

To assess the effect of experimental Type 1 diabetes on male fertility male Sprague Dawley rats were injected with either streptozotocine (STZ) to induce diabetes or with citrate buffer as controls Diabetic animals and 2 control groups (STZ resistant and buffer injected rats) were sacrificed at 2 different times after injection 6 weeks (6W) and 20 weeks (20W) We analyzed serum testosterone (sTT) epididymal sperm parameters and weight of testicles and epididymides and carried out a histological evaluation of testicular tissue Diabetic animals presented a significant increase in teratozoospermia (20W P < 01) and a decrease in sTT (P < 01) tubular diameter (6W P < 05) and testicular (6W P < 01) and epididymal (P < 01) weight STZ resistant animals showed significantly decreased sTT (6W P < 01) epididymal weight (6W P < 05) and sperm count (6W P < 01) compared with buffer-injected controls Experimental STZ diabetes increases teratozoospermia and decreases sTT testicular weight (reverting at medium term) and epididymal weight