Aspects of Testicular Toxicity Induced by Anticancer Drugs

Abstract

Newer histopathologic techniques were used in combination with sperm head counts (SHC) and serial mating (SM) studies to assess different aspects of testicular toxicity. Adult male rats were treated once intraperi-toneally (i.p.) with vincristine (Vin: 0.15 and 0.6 mg/kg) or procarbazine (Proc: 50 and 200 mg/kg). Investigations were performed at weekly intervals until 10 weeks after treatment. SHC are a good parameter for cytotoxicity (Vin, Proc) assessed in great detail by morphological examination. Optimal fixation after perfusion and high optical resolution of semi-thin sections also allow the study of early and subtle specific alterations. However, they do not replace SM studies for the assessment of genotoxicity (Proc). In turn, SM studies are poor indicators of cytotoxicity.