Cimetidine effect on epididymal histoarchitecture of rats

• Grant number: 13/04870-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2013
• End date: September 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Histology
• Principal Investigator: Estela Sasso Cerri
• Grantee: Fabiane de Santi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Odontologia (FOAr). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araraquara. Araraquara , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Cimetidine, a H2 receptor antagonist that inhibits gastric secretion, has been used for duodenal and gastric ulcers. However, some collateral effects were observed in cimentidine-treated patients such as loss of libido, impotence, gynecomastia and reduced sperm count. Regarding the antihistaminergic and antiandrogenic actions of cimetidine, as well as the scarce literature concerning the cimetidine effect on male genital ducts, this study aims to evaluate the morphometric and morphofunctional alterations induced by this drug in the epididymes of cimetidine-treated rats. Ten male rats will be distributed into control (GC) and experimental (GE) groups. The animals from GE will receive daily cimetidine intrapetoneal injections (100 mg/kg) for 50 consecutive days. GC animals will receive saline solution. The epididymes will be fixed and processed for embedding in historesin and paraffin. The sections will be stained by hematoxilin and eosin, and by PAS and Picrosirius-red histochemistry methods. The fibrous tissue (collagen) will be analyzed by picrosirius-polarization method. The following morphometric analyses will be performed: diameteres of the epididymal duct sections and volume densities of interstitial tissue (VvTI) and epididymal duct (VvDE). The morphometrical results will be statistically analysed. Immunohistochemistry reactions for detection of androgen receptors (ARs) and steroid hormone binding globulin (SHBG) in the epididymal sections will be performed.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE SANTI, FABIANE; BELTRAME, FLAVIA L.; HINTON, BARRY T.; CERRI, PAULO S.; SASSO-CERRI, ESTELA. Reduced levels of stromal sex hormone-binding globulin and androgen receptor dysfunction in the sperm storage region of the rat epididymis. Reproduction, v. 155, n. 6, p. 467-479, JUN 2018. (15/09341-0, 13/04870-0, 12/23845-3)