THE EFFECT OF CHRONIC ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION INDUCES STRUCTURAL CHANGES TO THE EPIDIDYMIS OF RATS

Background and Aim : Although previous studies have shown that alcohol consumption induces some changes in the epididymis, such as oxidative stress and changes in aquaporin gene expression. only a few comprehensive studies have been carried out on the effects of alcohol consumption on the epididymis function and structure. therefore, in the current study, we evaluated the possible adverse effects of alcohol on the caput segment of epididymis tissue of male rats at histological after chronic alcohol exposure. Methods : 16 rats (four months old) were randomly divided into two experimental groups (n = 8) of control and alcohol. The alcohol group received 4.5 g/kg BW of alcohol mixed in tap water (20% w/v) intragastrically by gavage once a day for 6 weeks. the control rats received an equal volume of tap water. After 6 weeks of treatment, the rats were anesthetized by 10% ketamine (80mg/kg BW, IP) and 2% xylazine (10 mg/kg BW, IP), and the caput segment of the left epididymis was immediately fixed in 10% formalin embedded in paraffin and sectioned (thickness, 5 μm) for histological examination. Results : Alcohol treatment caused several histopathological changes, such as cellular vacuolization, lymphocyte infiltration, interstitial inflammation, and tissue detachment. the ratios of proliferative cells in the epididymis, which are considered as PCNA positive markers. the percentage of positively stained cells in the epididymis of alcohol group (51%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (5%; p < 0.05). It was assumed that alcohol results in moderate to severe proliferation of epididymis cells. Conclusion : Hematoxylin‐eosin (H&E) staining show cellular vacuolization, lymphocyte infiltrations, interstitial inflammation as well as tissue detachment. Immunohistochemical staining by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) antibody showed moderate to severe proliferative epididymis cells. photomicrographs from caput segment of epididymis tissue staining by Masson Trichrome staining show that microscopic lesion score in the epididymis tissue 4–5, which is an indication of increased fibrosis with obvious damage to the epididymis structure and formation of fibrosis bands or small fibrosis masses among seminiferous tubules.

کلیدواژه ها:

alcohol ، epididymis ، rat