Avaliação da morfologia testicular e dos parâmetros espermáticos em ratos espontaneamente hipertensos e tratados com enalapril

Abstract

Hypertension is a major public health problem, usually associated with other disorders such as obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, atherosclerosis, stroke and identified as one of the most prevalent risk factors for developing cardiovascular diseases. Target organs, such as heart, kidney, brain and eyes, are very commonly affected in hypertensive patients. However the testicular damage caused by hypertension has not been clearly defined. Hypertension is a well-established risk factor for erectile dysfunction, but its relation to testicular damage and male fertility is not clearly understood. This study evaluates the testicular morphology and some spermatozoid parameters of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) untreated and treated with enalapril. SHR rats were assigned into two groups, a hypertensive group (H), and an enalapril treated group (HE). Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were used as controls. Systolic blood pressure was measured weekly until at the end of the experiment. The spermatozoid concentration, motility and viability were determined in epididimal tail collected sample. Stereological methods were used to analyze testicular morphology macroscopically and microscopically. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey´s post test, considering p<0.05. At the end of the experiment systolic blood pressure in the HE group (153,9 mmHg ± 21,03 ) was similar to WKY animals (153,4 ± 24,41), and lower than H animals (205,1 ± 24,9). Sperm concentration of the H group (1,31 x 107 sptz/ml ± 0,27) was lower than WKY group (2,11 x 107 sptz/ml ± 0,34). The blood pressure control with enalapril improved this parameter and HE group (2,46 x 107 sptz/ml ± 0,54) was similar to WKY. Testicular vascular volumetric density was also higher in hypertensive group while HE animals were similar to controls. The seminiferous epithelium of HE animals showed the highest volumetric density, indicating a possible positive indirect effect of enalapril in spermatogenesis. In this animal model, hypertension promoted morphological changes in the testicle with consequences on spermatozoid production. The blood pressure control with enalapril protected the testicle from these alterations, restoring normal spermatozoid production.