K. Akagashi et al., HYPERTENSIVE CHANGES IN INTRATESTICULAR ARTERIES IMPAIR SPERMATOGENESIS OF THE STROKE-PRONE SPONTANEOUSLY HYPERTENSIVE RAT, Journal of andrology, 17(4), 1996, pp. 367-374
It is reported that some elderly males exhibit both hypospermatogenesi
s and intratesticular arterial changes. These arterial changes are tho
ught to contribute to spermatogenic damage. In this study the process
of the damage to spermatogenesis induced by such changes was evaluated
using stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). SHRSP sho
wed a rapid increase of blood pressure, followed by hypertensive vascu
lar changes. At 23 weeks of age, 61.8% of seminiferous tubules were at
rophic in SHRSP, simultaneously with the development of hypertensive v
ascular changes. In addition, the transferrin concentration in the cyt
osolic fraction of the testicular homogenate was decreased at 23 weeks
of age exactly when the severe damage to the spermatogenesis was seen
, suggesting that Sertoli cell function in SHRSP regressed at 23 weeks
of age. Based on these findings, it was suggested that the decline in
the Sertoli cell function caused by the hypertensive vascular changes
is part of the mechanism whereby spermatogenic damage occurs in SHRSP
.