Effects of the chronic use of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on testicular weight and spermatogenesis: experimental study in rats.
OBJECTIVE
The complete biological effects of chronic use of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), reported as a weak androgen, are not completely understood. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of chronic administration of DHEA on the spermatogenesis in rats.


METHODS
Male Wistar rats, 4 months old, were selected for the study. The animals were divided into two groups. Group 1 (n = 9) received placebo (saline solution) 0.5 ml/day and Group 2 (n = 15) received DHEA 5 mg/kg/day. Both the groups received the respective treatments 5 days a week during 10 months. At the end of the exposure, the rats were sacrificed and the testes removed, weighed and processed for histologic analysis. Spermatogenesis was evaluated as the mean number of seminiferous tubules with and without spermatids in maturation phase in their lumen, in five random fields on the same slide.


RESULTS
The median levels of serum total testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate was measured in the two groups. Significant higher concentrations in total testosterone (2.06 +/- 0.4 vs. 0.80 +/- 0.2; p < 0.05) and DHEAS (222.1 +/- 41.5 vs. 2.0 +/- 0.3) were observed in the group treated with DHEA as compared to the control group. The mean weights of the right testes were 1.59 +/- 0.3 in group 1 and 1.58 +/- 0.2 g in group 2 (p > 0.05). These values for the left testes were 1.57 +/- 0.3 and 1.55 +/- 0.3 g, respectively (p > 0.05). The histologic analysis showed a mean of 13.5 +/- 1.5 and 12.8 +/- 1.8 seminiferous tubules per field in the groups 1 and 2, respectively (p > 0.05). The same analysis demonstrated that in the control group 0.06 +/- 0.1 of the tubules presented without spermatids in maturation phase and in the DHEA group this was observed in 0.22 +/- 1.2 of the tubules (p > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic administration of DHEA in the present dose did not show any detectable effect on the quantitative and qualitative analyses of spermatogenesis in rats.
Gobbi
Daniel
D
Postgraduating Course of Medical Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Federal Foundation of Medical Sciences of Porto Alegre (FFFCMPA), Brazil.
Rhoden
Ernani L
EL
Menti
Eduardo
E
Lulhier
Francisco
F
Rhoden
Claudia
C
D000818:Animals; D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013091:Spermatogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D013737:Testis / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects*
D003687:Dehydroepiandrosterone