Effect of DL-6-(N-alpha-pipecolinomethyl)-5-hydroxyindane maleate (PMHI) on the reproductive system of a wild rat, Bandicota bengalensis. II. Epididymis and accessory sex glands.

The effect of PMHI on the epididymis and accessory sex glands (ventral prostate, seminal vesicle, and coagulating gland) was studied in a wild rodent, the bandicoot rat. Animals were given a single subcutaneous injection of PMHI (150 mg/kg body wt) and were killed 2, 10, or 30 days later. Treatment of PMHI resulted in severe alterations in the epididymis of the bandicoot rat with no apparent effect on accessory sex glands except for a transitory decrease in epithelial height of the seminal vesicle and in peripheral acini of the ventral prostate. Changes in the epididymis included a marked involution of the caput, Zone I in particular, formation of sperm granulomata, and the distension of the "clear" cells in the caudal portion of the duct. Sperms progressively disappeared from the lumen and by Day 30, the cauda epididymis became completely azoospermic. It appears that the epididymal lesions produced by this compound may play a contributory role to induce infertility in the bandicoot rat.