Morphological Changes in the Testis of Rattus norvegicus Exposed to Cigarette Smoke

Smoking has become a major cause of diseases worldwide. Cigarette smoking is associated with an increase in the development of a number of conditions which represent significant impact on public health. In this light the problem arises: Does exposure to cigarette smoke cause morphological changes in the testicles of rats? The present study is justified because of the growing importance of pathological conditions caused by exposure to substances in the cigarette and the scarcity of literature to correlate exposure to cigarette smoke to the emergence of testicular diseases that can promote infertility. The objective of this study was to analyze the morphology of the rat testicles exposed or not to cigarette smoke by checking the cell area of the germinal epithelium and comparison of histomorphometry of the seminiferous tubules. The study was approved by the “Comitê de Ética em Uso de Animais” (Ethics Committee on Animal Use) - CEUA / FACID under protocol 038/13. A total of 14 animals of the species Rattus norvegicus were selected, males, with 60 days of age and weighing 300 g, divided into two groups (G1 and G2), with seven animals each group. The G1 animals were exposed to smoke produced by the combustion of four cigarettes for 30 minutes, twice a day, six days a week for 60 days. The G2 animals were not exposed. After 60 days, animals in both groups were euthanized and samples of the testicles were dissected and sent for routine processing for further microscopy light analysis. In each testicle sample was randomly calculated the cell area of the germinal epithelium of the seminiferous tubules, with the help of “ImageJ” software. Then the mean areas and standard deviations of each group of animals were calculated, for later histomorphometric comparison between groups. The results were statistically analyzed. Student T test was used, and the level of significance was 5% (p <0.05). Statistical analysis of the data showed that after the exposure period, the average cell area of the seminiferous tubules of the unexposed group is significantly higher than the cell area of the seminiferous tubules of the above group (p <0.05). It can be concluded that exposure of rats to cigarette smoke triggered histomorphometric changes in the testicles, by promoting a reduction of the cell area of the seminiferous tubules, indicating that smoking may result in atrophy of these structures.