Avaliação da toxicidade reprodutiva de anabolizantes em ratos Wistar adultos

Abstract

Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids (AAS) are synthetic medicines derived from testosterone that produce anabolic-related increase in muscle mass. Studies that evaluate the effects of anabolic steroids on male reproduction are scarce; never the less it was observed that the use of AAS diminished Leydig cell function, which are the cells responsible for testosterone production, number and volume of these cells, and are associated with low LH levels. Thus, this study investigated the impact of using the AAS: nandrolone decanoate (ND), stanozolol and oxymetholone on reproductive parameters of adult male Wistar rats. For this experiment, 173 Wistar rats, 73 males and 100 females, of reproductive age were used (75 days old). The rats (n = 7) were divided into 9 groups, divided into 2 groups according to the dose of the AAS administered (5 mg/Kg and 10 mg/Kg). The groups nandrolone decanoate and stanozolol received the treatment during 10 weeks by a weekly injection with dilution in vegetable oil or saline solution, respectively, while those with oxymetholone diluted in saline solution were treated by gavage for 40 days. These animals were assessed in relation to final body and reproductive organs weights, sperm quality and hormonal dosages. Also, 10 rats and 100 females were used for artificial intrauterine insemination. In the second experiment, 63 rats were divided into 9 groups (n = 7), in the same way as the first experiment, to assess whether recovery had occurred in any of the parameters analyzed. The parameters analyzed included both organ weight and all sperm quality parameters (morphology, motility, count sperm, daily sperm production and sperm transit time though epididymis) and showed alterations in the AAS studied. In the late evaluation, oxymetholone showed a slower recovery, stanozolol had a partial recovery from deleterious effects and ND showed an increase in alterations. In the first evaluation of hormonal dosage, oxymetholone and stanozolol showed decreased FSH, LH and intratesticular testosterone levels while ND did not alter the hormone levels. However, in the late evaluation, in oxymetholone the hormone levels normalized but there was a reduction in the progesterone level, while stanozolol restored hormones to normality and ND showed reductions in LH, testosterone and intratesticular testosterone levels. In intrauterine artificial insemination the values show that there was a reduction of the fertility potential of both groups treated with ND and stanozolol, as well as increased pre-implantation losses. In the group treated with the higher dose of ND, an increase in post-implantation losses was also demonstrated. Thus, this study demonstrated that the use of AAS caused decreased sperm quality and may cause problems related to male infertility. Recuperation time varies according to the type of anabolic steroid used, where ND was considered the most dangerous, according to this study because the deleterious effects worsened 70 days after the end of the treatment.