Effects of Deficiency of Essential Fatty Acids and Treatment with Prostaglandin E2 on the Ultrastructure of the Rat Testis1

Abstract

The fine structure of the testes was examined in Sprague-Dawley rats fed an essential fatty acid deficient (EFAD) diet immediately after weaning. Between 85 and 110 days of life, experimental and control animals were fertile. The histology of the seminiferous tubules after 13 weeks on the EFAD diet appeared normal. The ultrastructure, however, revealed distention of the smooth (SER) and rough (RER) endoplasmic reticulum and of the cisternae associated with the junctional complexes of the Sertoli cells. The remaining animals fed the EFAD diet were divided into 2 groups of 5 animals each. One group received 0.10 mg of prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) and the other one 0.9% NaCl. The daily injections were administered intrascrotally for 11 weeks in order to cover more than the mean length of the spermatogenic cycle in Sprague-Dawley rats. In both groups, male fertility had decreased and the histology of the testes showed prominent vacuolization in some of the tubules after 24 weeks on the diet. This was more pronounced in the saline than in the PGE₂ treated animals. Vacuoles dominated the cytoplasm of the Sertoli cell. In addition, the ultrastructure of some of the organelles (mitochondria, SER, RER and junctional cisternae) was altered. PGE₂ treatment seemed to achieve some repair of these structural changes. These are the first fine structural observations of the testes in EFAD rats with and without PGE₂ administration. Our ultrastructural findings suggest that the primary target in the seminiferous tubules is the Sertoli cell. In the EFAD rat, the normal integrity of this cell population is disturbed which may account for the male infertility.