Alcohol induced testicular damage: Can abstinence equal recovery?

Drinking continues to be a major problem in many parts of the world. Significant effects on testicular morphology and function in animals as well as man have been well described. To further explore the impact of chronic ethanol exposure on the testes, we designed this study specifically to define whether or not there was complete recovery after abstinence by examining reproductive hormones, testicular histomorphometry, testicular antioxidants as well as semen parameters after ethanol exposure.Sexually mature male Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into control, abstinent and non-abstinent groups. Alcohol was administered orally at 7 ml/kg body weight per day thrice in a week for 2, 4 and 8 weeks. Control animals received an equivalent amount of distilled water. Histological analysis of the seminiferous tubules of the animals in the non-abstinent group showed severe reduction of cells of the spermatogenic series, hypocellularity, tubular atrophy and significant reductions in the tubular diameter and cross-sectional areas (p < 0.001). Testicular weight, sperm count and motility, were also significantly reduced (p < 0.001) while testicular malondialdehyde (tMDA) levels increased significantly (p < 0.001). Hormonal assay showed significant reductions in the levels of testosterone (TT) (p < 0.05) while luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) remained unchanged. In the recovery or abstinent groups (group III), despite weeks of abstinence from alcohol, the groups still demonstrated high levels of tMDA, low sperm count and motility and significantly reduced (p < 0.001) testicular diameter and cross sectional area values. However, increased TT levels and non-severe reduction in the seminiferous epithelium observed in these groups showed signs of epithelial regeneration and probable recovery tendencies. In conclusion, the present study shows that total alcohol abstinence following chronic ethanol administration failed to reverse completely alcohol-induced testicular damage.