Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran.
Andrologia. 2014 Mar;46(2):80-5. doi: 10.1111/and.12047. Epub 2012 Nov 9.
This study was set to investigate whether the adverse effects of long-term copper (Cu) consumption on testicular tissue could be prevented by zinc (Zn) administration. Forty-five mature male mice were randomly divided into one control and two treatment groups. The first treatment group received copper sulphate (Cu experimental group). The second treatment group was given combined treatment of copper sulphate and zinc sulphate (ZC experimental group). Control animals received normal saline using the same volume. Five mice from each group were sacrificed on day 14, 28 and 56 from the beginning of treatments. Left testes were removed for histopathological and histomorphometrical evaluations. Morphometrically, the diameter of seminiferous tubules and Sertoli cell nuclei, epithelial height, meiotic index and the percentage of spermatogenesis in Cu groups showed significant decrease compared to those of the control groups (P < 0.05). A partial improvement was seen in the percentage of spermatogenesis and meiotic index (P < 0.05) in ZC groups, whereas a complete recovery was observed in the rest of parameters in ZC group after 56 days compared to the control group (P > 0.05). Results showed that long-term administration of Cu leads to histological impairments of testis and zinc supplementation might offset these damaging effects.
本研究旨在探讨长期铜（Cu）摄入对睾丸组织的不良影响是否可以通过锌（Zn）给药来预防。将 45 只成熟雄性小鼠随机分为一组对照和两组处理组。第一组处理组接受硫酸铜（Cu 实验组）。第二组处理组给予硫酸铜和硫酸锌联合治疗（ZC 实验组）。对照组给予相同体积的生理盐水。每组中的 5 只老鼠分别在治疗开始后的第 14、28 和 56 天处死。取出左侧睾丸进行组织病理学和组织形态计量学评估。形态计量学上，与对照组相比，Cu 组的生精小管直径、支持细胞核、上皮高度、减数分裂指数和精子发生百分比显著降低（P<0.05）。在 ZC 组中，精子发生百分比和减数分裂指数部分改善（P<0.05），而在 56 天后，与对照组相比，ZC 组的其余参数完全恢复（P>0.05）。结果表明，长期给予 Cu 会导致睾丸组织的组织学损伤，而锌补充可能会抵消这些损伤作用。
