Morphological changes in the gonads of the Sabi ram experimentally infected with Trypanosoma congolense

Indigenous Sabi rams of Southern Africa were experimentally infected with T rypanosoma congolense for 8 and 16 weeks. Testes weights (g) were significa ntly (P < 0.05) lower in the infected (249.7 +/- 6.4) compared to the contr ol (372.63 +/- 19.4) animals. Histopathological and ultrastructural changes included seminiferous tubular atrophy and mononuclear infiltration in the testis, and lesions in the epithelium of the corpus epididymidis (middle se gment) as well as spermatozoa in the cauda epididymidis. The gonadal lesion s may have the capability to impair fertility in Sabi rams infected with Tr ypanosoma congolense. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.