[Protection from procarbazine induced testicular toxicity by gonadal steroid hormones]

To confirm the claims that the procarbazines (PCZ) effect on stem spermatogonia can be overcome by gonadal steroid hormones,mature,LBNF1 male rats were implanted with silastic capsules containing testosterone (T 200 mm) + estradiol (E 50 mm). The silastic capsules of control and TE groups were removed 24 hours after the PCZ injection and the rats were sacrificed 9 weeks later. The functional status of the testis and the hormonal parameters at the time of the injection of PCZ were measured and correlated with the degree of protection ,as measured by the recovery of sperm counts. The results indicated that testosterone and estradiol does protect spermatogenesis from PCZ intoxification. To determine whether the protection is specific for stem spermatogonia, we also measured body weight loss 3-4 days, lymphocyte counts 1 day, and spermatocyte count 9 days after PCZ treatment. There were no differences in the dose response curves of these three assays between the hormone and sham treated rats. The lack of protection indicates that the hormonal protection of stem spermatogonia was not due to the alterations in either systemic or testicular pharmacokinetics of spermatocyte. We conclude that A3 spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocyte are sensitive to PCZ and there is no evidence of hormonal protection for the differentiated spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocyte.