title: Decreased blood flow and defective energy metabolism in the varicocele-bearing testicles of rats.
abstract: This study was designed to elucidate the hemodynamic and energetic changes of testicles in experimental varicocele. Partial ligation of the left renal vein was performed in 10 Sprague-Dawley rats to induce dilatation of the internal spermatic vein, and sham operation was performed in the other 10 age-matched Sprague-Dawley rats used as controls. Blood pressure and rectal temperature were maintained at a constant level. Testicular blood flow was detected by laser Doppler flowmeter on the day before surgery and 4 weeks after surgery, respectively. Concentrations of various adenine nucleotides were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). We found a significant decrease from 10.2 +/- 1.5 to 7.4 +/- 1.8 mlLD/min/100 g (p < 0.005) in testicular blood flow after inducing varicocele in the rats. The energy charge of adenine nucleotides of the varicocele-bearing rats was 0.62 +/- 0.07 which was significantly lower than the 0.73 +/- 0.02 of the control group (p < 0.005). These observations have, thus, led us to propose the hypothesis that impaired spermatogenesis may result from defective energy metabolism in the varicocele-bearing testicles of rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Y H
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000227:Adenine Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D008833:Microcirculation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D013737:Testis / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014646:Varicocele / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000227:Adenine Nucleotides