Biology of Reproduction, Vol 23, 171-179, Copyright © 1980 by Society for the Study of Reproduction

Effects of Cadmium upon Regenerated Testicular Vessels in the Rat

¹ Department of Anatomy, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267

Blood vessels from both cryptorchid and scrotal testes that had regenerated after being destroyed by a subcutaneous cadmium insult were examined by light and electron microscopy before and after being subjected to a second cadmium exposure. The morphology of the testes 3 months after the initial cadmium exposure was greatly changed. Seminiferous tubules were irreversibly damaged, necrotic, and in the cryptorchid testes were severely atrophied and frequently calcified. The interstitial space was composed primarily of granulation tissue, activated fibroblasts, unit collagen fibrils of varying diameters, increased numbers of mast cells, and abnormal Leydig cells. Regenerated capillaries were often composed of hypertrophied endothelial cells, showed multilayered basal lamina, and demonstrated a striking resistance to a second cadmium exposure at early time periods postinjection in comparison to vessels exposed for the first time. However, 9 h after the second exposure a few scattered examples of cadmium-induced vascular damage could be found in most of the unilateral cryptorchid testes but not in their scrotal counterparts. This indicated that some vulnerability to cadmium still existed in the regenerated vessels of cryptorchid testes.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Mrs. Julia Hung and Mrs. Irene Hofmann for their skilled technical assistance. This work was supported by research grant HD 11250 from the NICHD, NIH.