title: Histological effects of zinc and melatonin on rat testes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The objective of this study is to examine the histological effects of zinc and melatonin, alone or in combination, on rat testes.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this purpose four study groups of ten Sprague-Dawley male rats were formed and treated for one month as follows: (1) Controls; (2) Rats injected with 3 mg/kg/day zinc, as zinc sulfate; (3) Rats injected with 3 mg/kg/day melatonin and (4) Rats injected with 3 mg/kg/day each zinc and melatonin.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After four weeks the rats treated with melatonin showed inhibited spermatogenesis, testicular tubular degeneration and necrosis, obstruction of tubular lumen and lymphocytic infiltration. The two zinc-treated groups showed no histological differences to controls but the melatonin-only group showed inhibited spermatogenetic activity, tubular degeneration and necrosis, as well as obstruction of tubule lumens and lymphocytic infiltration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The obtained results suggest that 4-week treatment with melatonin leads to histological and physiological impairments of testis and that zinc supplementation might offset these damaging effects (Tab. 2, Fig. 4, Ref. 12).
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Meram Medical School, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tuncer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sunar
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Toy
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Baltaci
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mogulkoc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013737:Testis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D015032:Zinc / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D015032:Zinc; D008550:Melatonin