title: Pneumoperitoneum induces morphological alterations in the rat testicle.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the seminiferous tubule histological morphology after an 8 mmHg pneumoperitoneum in the rat model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen rats were divided into two groups: a Sham group submitted to anesthesia and a pneumoperitoneum (Pp) group submitted to abdominal insufflation at 8 mmHg during three hours, followed by desuflation. All rats were killed after six weeks, testicles were collected and evaluated for the tubule diameter, germinative epithelium height and Johnsen´s score. Means were compared by using the Student's-t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The seminiferous tubule diameter was diminished by 11.3% in the group submitted to pneumoperitoneum (p<0.05). No significant difference was found among the groups when analyzing the epithelium height and Johnsen´s score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the rat model, the seminiferous tubules present structural alterations when subjected to pneumoperitoneum of 8 mmHg during three hours.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Physiopathology and Surgical Sciences, Urogenital Research Unit, UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Carina Teixeira
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: Diogo Benchimol
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: De Souza
authors.forename: Jorge Luiz
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Medeiros
authors.forename: Waldemar Silva
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Marco Aurélio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pereira-Sampaio
authors.forename: Francisco José Barcellos
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Sampaio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D009929:Organ Size; D011028:Pneumoperitoneum, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology*; D013997:Time Factors