Unilateral orchidectomy in mature cats is not followed by compensatory hypertrophy

The aim of this study was to describe the effect of unilateral orchidectomy on testicular characteristics of mature domestic cats. Five, 1- to 2-year-old, cross-bred male cats were unilaterally orchidectomized on day 0 (right) and day 60 (left). The testes were processed for histological and immunohistochemical evaluation and groups compared by Student's t-test. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found between testes groups for any of the gross (volume and gonadosomatic index) and microscopic (tubular diameters, axis, area, length and perimeter, germinal epithelium height, spermatogonias, spermatocytes, spermatids, spermatozoa, Sertoli and Leydig cells, intertubular compartment, lumen, cellular debris, tubular- intertubular proportion and basement membrane) parameters assessed. According to these biometric and morphometric results, mature cats do not develop compensatory hypertrophy within 60 days of unilateral orchidectomy.