title: Effects of zinc and melatonin deficiency on testicular tissue of rats.
abstract: The present study was designed to investigate the effects of zinc and/or melatonin deficiency on rat testes. A total of 24 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. The rats were divided into four groups of six rats each, as follows: (I) controls, (II) zinc deficient, (III) pinealectomized, zinc normal, and (IV) pinealectomized, zinc deficient. The plasma zinc levels in the control group were higher than in all the other groups (p<0.01), and those of the zinc-deficient groups II and IV were significantly lower than for group III (p<0.01). The melatonin levels in the controls were also significantly higher than for all other groups (p<0.01) There was no significant difference in sperm production between the controls and the group of animals that had no epiphysis. A significant suppression was observed in the spermatogenetic activity of the zinc-deficient groups (p<0.01). The suppression was higher in group II than in group IV. These results indicate that testicular damage caused by zinc deficiency may be reduced by melatonin deficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Medical School, Selcuk University Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oztürk
authors.forename: Abdulkerim Kasim
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Baltaci
authors.forename: Cem Seref
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Bediz
authors.forename: Rasim
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mogulkoc
authors.forename: Salim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Güngör
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013737:Testis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc; D008550:Melatonin