title: The effect of estrogen usage on eccentric exercise-induced damage in rat testes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent years, lots of scientific studies are focused on the possible mechanism of inflammatory response and oxidative stress which are the mechanism related with tissue damage and exercise fatigue. It is well-known that free oxygen radicals may be induced under invitro conditions as well as oxidative stress by exhaustive physical exercise.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of anabolic steroids in conjunction with exercise in the process of spermatogenesis in the testes, using histological and stereological methods.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-six male Sprague Dawley rats were divided to six groups, including the control group, the eccentric exercise administered group, the estrogen applied group, the estrogen applied and dissected one hour after eccentric exercise group, the no estrogen applied and dissected 48 hours after eccentric exercise group and the estrogen applied and dissected 48 hours after eccentric exercise group. Eccentric exercise was performed on a motorized rodent treadmill and the estrogen applied groups received daily physiological doses by subcutaneous injections. Testicular tissues were examined using specific histopathological, immunohistochemical and stereological methods. Sections of the testes tissue were stained using the TUNEL method to identify apoptotic cells. Apoptosis was calculated as the percentage of positive cells, using stereological analysis. A statistical analysis of the data was carried out with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the data obtained from stereological analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Conventional light microscopic results revealed that testes tissues of the eccentric exercise administered group and the estrogen supplemented group exhibited slight impairment. In groups that were both eccentrically exercised and estrogen supplemented, more deterioration was detected in testes tissues. Likewise, immunohistochemistry findings were also more prominent in the eccentrically exercised and estrogen supplemented groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that estrogen supplementation increases damage in testicular tissue due to eccentric exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey.
authors.forename: Serpil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Can
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Jale
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Selli
authors.affiliation: Department of Histology and Embryology, School of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Basak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Buyuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sergulen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aydin
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, School of Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ramazan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kocaaslan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Kafkas University, Kars, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gulname Findik
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Guvendi
keywords: Estrogens; Exercise; Rats; Testis