STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN RAT TESTES EXPOSED TO BACTERIAL LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE E. COLI ON THE 3RD DAY AFTER EXPOSURE

The aim of the study was to evaluate structural changes in the testes of rats on the third day after exposure to the bacterial lipopolysaccharide gram-negative microorganism Escherichia coli. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide Escherichia coli (serotype 0111: B4, manufactured by Sigma, USA) was administered to male rats at a dose of 50 mkg/kg intraperitoneally one time. Research methods included histological, morphometrical, electron microscopy. In the experimental animals there were detected a decrease in the number of interstitial endocrine cells by 13.85% and a decrease in the area of their nuclei by 23.06%; a decrease in the number of sustentocytes by 25.65% and reduction of the area of their nuclei by 17.15%; a decrease in the number of spermatocytes by 26.54%. Electron microscopic examination revealed swollen basement membrane of the tubules and ultrastructural changes in sustentocytes and spermatocytes. Single administration of E. coli bacterial lipopolysaccharide to male rats at a dose of 50 mg/kg i.p., causes on the 3rd day after exposure development of pathological changes in the testes of the animals, which results in a reduction of interstitial endocrinocytes; reduction in the amount of sustentocytes and spermatocytes while reducing the size of their nuclei; changes in the ultrastructure of spermatogenic epithelium in the form of large numbers of phagolysosomes in the cytoplasm of sustentocytes and reduction of cristae in mitochondria.