Effects of zinc and melatonin deficiency on testicular tissue of rats

• Published in: Biological trace element research Vol. 96; no. 1-3; pp. 255 - 262
• Main Authors: Oztürk, Ahmet, Baltaci, Abdulkerim Kasim, Bediz, Cem Seref, Mogulkoc, Rasim, Güngör, Salim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Springer Nature B.V 2003
• Subjects: Animal tissues; Animals; Male; Melatonin; Melatonin - blood; Melatonin - deficiency; Nutrition; Pineal Gland - physiology; Pineal Gland - surgery; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rodents; Testis - metabolism; Testis - pathology; Tissues; Zinc; Zinc - blood; Zinc - deficiency
• ISSN: 0163-4984; 0163-4984; 1559-0720
• DOI: 10.1385/bter:96:1-3:255

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of zinc and/or melatonin deficiency on rat testes. A total of 24 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. The rats were divided into four groups of six rats each, as follows: (I) controls, (II) zinc deficient, (III) pinealectomized, zinc normal, and (IV) pinealectomized, zinc deficient. The plasma zinc levels in the control group were higher than in all the other groups (p<0.01), and those of the zinc-deficient groups II and IV were significantly lower than for group III (p<0.01). The melatonin levels in the controls were also significantly higher than for all other groups (p<0.01) There was no significant difference in sperm production between the controls and the group of animals that had no epiphysis. A significant suppression was observed in the spermatogenetic activity of the zinc-deficient groups (p<0.01). The suppression was higher in group II than in group IV. These results indicate that testicular damage caused by zinc deficiency may be reduced by melatonin deficiency.