ON TESTIS AND EPlDlDYMlS OF RATS - Pondicherry University ...

3.9 Organ weights
Kidney, testes, epididymides and accessory sex organs wcre clcarcd from thc
adhering tissues and weighed to the nearest milligram on Ohaus Precision Standard
electronic balance. Testes and epididymides were processed for various experiments
and the details are given in the following sections.
3.10 Daily sperm production
Daily sperm production was determined in testis of rats by the method of
Blazak rr a]. (1993). Testis was weighed, decapsulated and homogenized in 50 mL of
ice-cold 0.9% sodium chloride solution containing 0.01% Triton X-100 using
polytron homogenizer (Polytron PT 3000, Kinematica AG) with a speed of 5 for 60
sec as was used by Sharpe er al. (1995). The homogenate was allowed to settle for 1
min and then gently mixed and a 10 mL aliquot was collected into a glass vial and
stored on ice. AAer thorough mixing of each sample, number of sperni heads were
counted in four chambers of an improved Neubauer type hernocytometer. Number of
sperm produced per gram of tenicular tissue per day were calculated according to the
following formula: average count of sperm heads from four chambers x square factor
(which is 5) x hemocytometer factor (which is 10') x dilution factor (which is 50)
divided by testis weight (g) and the time (days) during spermatogenesis that these
cells are resistant to homogenization (which is 4.61 days for rats according to Sharpe
el a/. (1995). The daily sperm production was done in duplicate and the data were
expressed as mean * SD for four d~fferent rats in each group.
3.1 1 Collection of epididymal sperm and sperm function tests
Epididymal sperm were collected by the method of Gray er al. (1989). The
sperm collected from left epididymis were used for the determination of sperni
viability. sperm motility and sperm counts. The sperm collected from right
epididymis were used for biochemical assays. The epididyrnides collected from
experimental and control rats were washed in normal saline. Epididyrnis was