Recovery of suppressed male reproduction in mice exposed to progesterone during embryonic development by testosterone

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine whether transplacental exposure to progesterone caused male reproductive abnormalities and whether the changes can be reversed after testosterone administration. Progesterone was injected to mice on day 1, 3, and 7 of pregnancy. The male pups (F1 generation) were allowed to grow for 50 days and assessed for reproductive performance. Gestational exposure to progesterone (7 mg/kg body weight) resulted in significant body weight gain with a decrease in reproductive tissue indices in mice. Total sperm count, viable sperm, and motile sperm decreased in experimental mice. Hypo-osmotic swelling test revealed that experimental mice sperm membrane integrity was severely altered. The activity levels of testicular steroidogenic marker enzymes (hydroxy-delta-5-steroid dehydrogenase, 3 beta-and steroid delta-isomerase cluster (HSD3B) and hydroxysteroid (17-beta) dehydrogenase 1 (HSD17B)) decreased significantly in mice exposed to progesterone during embryonic development when compared with the controls. The levels of serum testosterone decreased with an increase in serum FSH and LH in mice exposed to progesterone during embryonic development. Prenatal exposure to progesterone caused significant reduction in the number of spermatozoa and increase in the lumen of seminiferous tubule. The experimental mice that cohabited with normal females showed fertility reduction. Administration of testosterone (4.16 mg/kg body weight) on postnatal day 20, 30, and 40 to progesterone-exposed prenates resulted in recovery of progesterone-induced suppressed male reproduction. It is suggested that the impairment of male reproduction in mice exposed to progesterone during embryonic development could be mediated through the inhibition of testosterone production. These results also indicate that in utero exposure to progesterone affects male reproduction and that supplementation of testosterone restores the suppressed male reproduction.

Testicular Changes in Male Albino Rat Pups Exposed to Medroxy- Progesterone Acetate during Lactational Period

“…The weight of the testis is largely dependent on the mass of differentiated spermatogenic cells and it has been used as a measure of spermatogenesis in rats [32]. Therefore, the decrement in relative testicular weight is presumably due to cells degeneration and low sperm production [4,12,16]. Also the degenerative processes are behind the low number of GE cells reported in this study.…”

“…The dam body weights were taken on each day of injection to adjust the dose. The 40 male rat pups were allowed to grow for 90 days where they reach maturity [2,4,[10][11][12].…”

“…The synthetic progesterone is widely used in human reproductive clinics for many therapeutic purposes such as a contraceptive especially during lactation period [1,2] to reduce the risk of recurrent preterm birth, to treat endometrial hyperplasia, heavy menstrual bleeding, endometriosis, pelvic pain syndromes, breast and uterine cancer, loss of appetite and weight related to AIDS and cancer and topically in certain skin diseases [3][4][5]. This situation entails that male infants kept on breastfeeding will be exposed to these synthetic hormones; suggesting disorder of their reproductive health at puberty [6][7][8].…”

“…Although many studies have asserted that exposure to synthetic progesterone hormone during pregnancy has critical effects on testicular structure and function [4,[12][13][14][15][16], great controversies and doubts exist concerning its adverse effects on the male reproduction following their exposure to synthetic progesterone during suckling period. Thus, the aim of the current study is to evaluate the effects of exposing male rat pups during early suckling period to DMPA on pubertal testicular histology, morphometry and cells quantitation.…”

“…The dam body weights were taken on each day of injection to adjust the dose. The 40 male rat pups were allowed to grow for 90 days where they reach maturity [2,4,[10][11][12].Study design: This one factorial experiment study was designed to investigate the effects of lactational exposure to DMPA on suckling male rat's pups' testis histological structure, morphometry, cells quantities at Citation: Ahmed SI, Ali TO, Elsheikh AS, Attia GA, Abdalla AM, et al (2017) Testicular Changes in Male Albino Rat Pups Exposed to MedroxyProgesterone Acetate during Lactational Period. J Steroids Horm Sci 8: 184.…”