[Kidney-jing deficiency reduces the fertility of male mice and their male offspring].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of kidney-jing deficiency on the fertility of male mice and their male offspring.


METHODS
Thirty 6-week-old Kunming male mice and 300 female ones were randomly allocated to a blank control group, a model group and a kidney-tonifying group. The model and the kidney-tonifying groups were stressed by fear plus excessive sex to establish a kidney-jing deficiency model, and meanwhile the latter were given concentrated solution of Kidney-tonifying Recipe intragastrically at the dose of 0.16 ml/10 g. The control and the model groups were treated with physiological saline at the same dose for 21 days. Then all the male mice were mated with the healthy estrous females for 5 days. The sperm density and motility of each group of the male mice were examined, and their fertility was assessed by comparison of the pregnancy rate and the number of baby mice at each birth among their female mates. And the sperm density and motility of the male offspring were detected at 6 weeks.


RESULTS
The average number of baby mice at each birth in the model group was (7.00 +/- 1.73), significantly smaller than those in the control (9.43 +/- 1.27) and the kidney-tonifying group (8.80 +/- 1.10) (P < 0.05). The sperm density and motility of the model mice were (9.70 +/- 1.15) x 10(6) / ml and (66.72 +/- 10. 12) %, lower than those of the control ([14.08 +/- 1.15 x 10(6)/ ml and [81.75 +/- 3.56] %), and the kidney-tonifying group ([12.20 +/- 1.55] x 10(6)/ ml and [78.55 +/- 4.38] %) (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the latter two groups (P > 0.05). The sperm density and motility of the offspring of the model mice were (10.10 +/- 1.79) x 10(6)/ ml and (71.86 +/- 7.48) %, lower than those of the control ([15.30 +/- 1.83] x 10(6)/ ml and [79.86 +/- 5.68] %), and the kidney-tonifying group ([14.20 +/- 2.21] x 10(6)/ ml and [81.92 +/- 2.51] %) (P < 0.05), with no significant difference between the latter two groups (P > 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Fear plus excessive sex could reduce the fertility of male mice and even that of their male offspring. And kidney-tonifying therapy could counteract this effect.
Sun
Jie
J
Department of Urology, Zhejiang Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310006, China. sjde008@163.com
Zhou
An-fang
AF
Zhou
Yan-yan
YY
Fang
Ting
T
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002415:Cats; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008098:Litter Size / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008419:Materia Medica / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D013076:Sperm Count; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology
D008419:Materia Medica