THE INFLUENCE OF HCG TREATMENT ON TESTICULAR APOPTOSIS AND FERTILITY INDEX IN AN EXPERIMENTAL CRYPTORCHIDISM MODEL

Objective Histopathological outcome of hCG treatment and the correlation of testicular apoptosis caused by hormone treatment with fertility potential were evaluated in an experimental cryptorchidism model in rats Material and Method Three main groups of healthy male Sprague Dawley rats aged 22 days were wet e divided into three main groups Sham operated (SO) experimental cryptorchidism (EC) and hormone treated EC groups (HT) Each main group was also divided into early and late orchidectomy groups to investigate early and late changes in the testis Each group contained 10 rats Eight and 30 days after first surgery left orchidectomy was performed in all rats All groups were compared to each other in terms of apoptosis (AI) and fertility index (FI) The relationship between AI and FI was evaluated with Pear son cot relation coefficient Results AI in HT group was lower than EC group in both periods the difference was statistically significant in late period while it was not so in early period FI in both EC and HT groups was significantly smaller than SO group in late period Although H was numerically smaller in HT than EC group in early and late periods the difference was statistically insignificant No consistent col relations between AI and FI could be shown Conclusion No significantly increased negative effect neither a beneficial effect of hCG treatment in terms of AI and FI respectively could be shown in our study Also our findings suggest that AI at a certain time point is not a reliable indicator of future fertility potential of that individual