Keywords:
Johnson scoring system
male reproductive system
mouse model
testicular tissue

  • Abstract

    Elevation of scrotal temperature may be injurious to spermatogenesis and leading cause male infertility. Scrotal heat stress reduces the number and motility of spermatozoa, fertilization ability of the surviving sperm and poor fertilization-embryo. This study was designed to investigate the effect of heat stress (at 37 ºC, 40 ºC and 43 ºC) on histopathological features of testicular tissue in scrotal heat exposed male mice. Experimental and control groups were sacrificed after completion of five weeks heat exposure period. The testes were fixed and stained hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) for qualitative and quantitative analysis of histopathological alterations and spermatogenesis according to Johnson scoring system. The results indicated that mice exposed to heat-stress mice exhibited degenerated and disorganized features of spermatogenic epithelium and reduced spermatogenic cells. Heat stress exposure (40 ºC and 43 ºC) shows the significantly reduced Johnson score compared to the control condition (P < 0.05 and P < 0.001, respectively). Meanwhile, scrotal heat exposure at 37 ºC did not reach significantly changes in Johnsen’s testicular histopathological score. The seminiferous tubule structure and spermatogenesis were completely disrupted in mice exposed to 43 °C. Percentage of high Johnsen score point was decreased in mice in heat-stress exposure group, while the ratio of low Johnsen score points was gradually increase. Spermatogenesis in male mice exposed to chronic scrotal heat stress is disrupted at 43 °C. In conclusion, this study attempted to develop an animal model for studying the male reproductive system. Johnsen scores system was standardized to assess murine testicular histopathology in the seminiferous tubule cross-section. Collectively, these results indicated a negative impact on histopathological alterations and spermatogenesis arrest following chronic scrotal heat stress.

  • References

    1. Barre-Sinoussi F, Montagutelli X (2015) Animal models are essential to biological research: issues and perspectives. Future Sci OA 1:FSO63.
    2. Dohle GR, Elzanaty S, van Casteren NJ (2012) Testicular biopsy: clinical practice and interpretation. Asian J Androl 14:88-93.
    3. Durairajanayagam D, Agarwal A, Ong C (2015) Causes, effects and molecular mechanisms of testicular heat stress. Reprod Biomed Online 30:14-27.
    4. Gao J, Zuo Y, So KH, Yeung WS, Ng EH, Lee KF (2012) Electroacupuncture enhances spermatogenesis in rats after scrotal heat treatment. Spermatogenesis 2:53-62.
    5. Hunter D, Anand-Ivell R, Danner S, Ivell R (2012) Models of in vitro spermatogenesis. Spermatogenesis 2:32-43.
    6. Jamsai D, O'Bryan MK (2011) Mouse models in male fertility research. Asian J Androl 13:139-151.
    7. Johnsen SG (1970) Testicular biopsy score count--a method for registration of spermatogenesis in human testes: normal values and results in 335 hypogonadal males. Hormones 1:2-25.
    8. Kumar Roy V, Marak TR, Gurusubramanian G (2016) Alleviating effect of Mallotus roxburghianus in heat-induced testicular dysfunction in Wistar rats. Pharm Biol 54:905-918.
    9. Lin C, Shin DG, Park SG, Chu SB, Gwon LW, Lee JG, Yon JM, Baek IJ, Nam SY (2015) Curcumin dose-dependently improves spermatogenic disorders induced by scrotal heat stress in mice. Food Funct 6:3770-3777.
    10. Paul C, Teng S, Saunders PT (2009) A single, mild, transient scrotal heat stress causes hypoxia and oxidative stress in mouse testes, which induces germ cell death. Biol Reprod 80:913-919.
    11. Rakesh V, Stallings JD, Reifman J (2014) A virtual rat for simulating environmental and exertional heat stress. J Appl Physiol 117:1278-1286.
    12. Rasooli A, Taha Jalali M, Nouri M, Mohammadian B, Barati F (2010) Effects of chronic heat stress on testicular structures, serum testosterone and cortisol concentrations in developing lambs. Anim Reprod Sci 117:55-59.
    13. Setchell BP (2006) The effects of heat on the testes of mammals. Animal Reproduction 3:81-91.
    14. Shadmehr S, Fatemi Tabatabaei SR, Hosseinifar S, Tabandeh MR, Amiri A (2018) Attenuation of heat stress-induced spermatogenesis complications by betaine in mice. Theriogenology 106:117-126.
    15. Teixeira TA, Pariz JR, Dutra RT, Saldiva PH, Costa E, Hallak J (2019) Cut-off values of the Johnsen score and Copenhagen index as histopathological prognostic factors for postoperative semen quality in selected infertile patients undergoing microsurgical correction of bilateral subclinical varicocele. Transl Androl Urol 8:346-355.
    16. Whirledge SD, Garcia JM, Smith RG, Lamb DJ (2015) Ghrelin partially protects against cisplatin-induced male murine gonadal toxicity in a GHSR-1a-dependent manner. Biol Reprod 92:76.
    17. Zhang MH, Shi ZD, Yu JC, Zhang YP, Wang LG, Qiu Y (2015) Scrotal heat stress causes sperm chromatin damage and cysteinyl aspartate-spicific proteinases 3 changes in fertile men. J Assist Reprod Genet 32:747-755.
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2020 Malque Publishing

How to cite

Thanh, T. N., Van, P. D., Cong, T. D., Minh, T. L., & Vu, Q. H. N. (2020). Assessment of testis histopathological changes and spermatogenesis in male mice exposed to chronic scrotal heat stress. Journal of Animal Behaviour and Biometeorology, 8(3), 174–180. Retrieved from https://malque.pub/ojs/index.php/jabb/article/view/860
  • Article viewed - 7
  • PDF downloaded - 5