Vitamin E is a fat soluble compound which acts as an antioxidant scavenging free radicals. Effects of deficiency of vitamin E in the diet have not been fully analyzed in the testis and epididymis. In the present study, Sprague-Dawley female rats bearing litters were fed a vitamin E deficient diet when the pups were postnatal 10 days old and were maintained on this diet until the pups were 21 days old. The most severe effects were noted in the group that received a vitamin E deficient diet from day 10 until 21 through the mother and then fed a vitamin E deficient diet until day 48. In this group, spermatogenesis was incomplete since late spermatids from steps 9-19 were rarely encountered in all tubules. Many steps 7-8 spermatids were seriously affected and showed a large vacuolation in their nucleus, disrupted acrosome and patchy dense granular cytoplasm suggesting cell degeneration. In the epididymis, principal cells along the entire duct appeared undifferentiated. In other groups of animals that received a vitamin E deficient diet until day 48 and then fed a normal diet for an additional 30 or 48 days, the testis and epididymis were comparable to the control animals. The present results thus demonstrate that spermatogenesis is incomplete and that late spermatids are most severely affected by vitamin E deficiency. However, the situation is reversible when vitamin E is replaced in the diet. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.27494 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Bensoussan, Karen. |
| Contributors | Hermo, Louis (advisor), Morales, Carlos (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001601790, proquestno: MQ37092, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0011 seconds