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. 2023 Apr 21:38:e381423.
doi: 10.1590/acb381423. eCollection 2023.

Histopathological examination of the protective effect of intense exercise in apoptotic germ cell damage due to diabetes

Veysel Toprak  1 , Senem Alkan Akalın  2 , Ece Öcal  3 , Yunus Çavuş  4 , İlhan Özdemir  5
Affiliations

Histopathological examination of the protective effect of intense exercise in apoptotic germ cell damage due to diabetes

Veysel Toprak et al. Acta Cir Bras. .

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the protective and antioxidative effects of intensive exercise on streptozotocin (STZ)-induced testicular damage, apoptotic spermatognial cells death, and oxidative stress.

Methods: 36 male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into three groups: control, diabetes, and diabetes+intensive exercise (IE) groups. Testicular tissues were examined histopathologically and antioxidant enzymes, including catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and malondialdehyde (MDA) activity, as well as serum testosterone level, were measured.

Results: Seminiferous tubules and germ cells were found to be better in the testis tissue of the intense exercise group than in the diabetes group. Diabetes suppressed antioxidant enzymes CAT, SOD, GPx and testosterone levels were significantly decreased, and increased MDA level in the diabetic group compared to diabetes+IE group (p < 0.001). Following four weeks of treatment, intensive exercise improved the antioxidant defense, significantly decreased MDA activity, and increased testosterone levels in testicular tissue in the diabetic group compared to diabetes+IE group (p < 0.01).

Conclusions: STZ-induced diabetes causes damage to the testis tissue. In order to prevent these damages, exercise practice has become very popular nowadays. In present study, our intensive exercise protocol, histological, and biochemical analysis of the effect of diabetes on the testicular tissues is shown.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Blood glucose levels of control, diabetes, and diabetes +IE. *p < 0.0001 compared to the control group; **p < 0.05 compared to diabetes group.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Testes weights of control, diabetes, and diabetes+IE groups. *p < 0.001 compared to diabetes group; **p < 0.01 compared to diabetes+IE group.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Seminiferous tubules diameters belonging to control, diabetes, and diabetes+IE groups. *p < 0.001 compared to diabetes group; **p < 0.05 compared to diabetes+IE group.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E) (a-c), PCNA immune staining (d-f) and TUNEL assay results (g-i) of experimental groups.
Figure 5
Figure 5. PCNA index of control, diabetes, and diabetes+IE groups. *p < 0.001 compared to diabetes group; **p < 0.01 compared to diabetes+IE group.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Apoptotic index values of control, diabetes, and diabetes+IE groups. *p < 0.001 compared to diabetes group. **p < 0.01 compared to diabetes+IE group.
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