Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Urol Int 2006;76:63–66 DOI: 10.1159/000089737 Stereological Evaluation of the Seminiferous Tubules of Rats after Maternal Undernutrition during the Lactation Period Cristiane da Fonte Ramos Alexandra Moreira da Silva Waldemar Silva Costa Francisco J.B. Sampaio Urogenital Research Unit, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Introduction Malnutrition is the most prevalent form of nutritional disorder among children in developing countries. Onís et al. [1] reported that, based on World Health Organization data, about 43% of children in developing countries suf- fer from malnutrition during some period in their lives. Protein malnutrition often occurs during gestation, lacta- tion, and the first 2 years of life [2]. Some authors showed that the nutritional status of the mother, during the gestational and lactation periods, is essential to the normal growth and development in hu- mans [3–5] or in experimental animals [6–10]. Several experimental models were designed to evalu- ate the effects of malnutrition in the offspring rats. Most authors studied malnutrition over the gestational period or both the gestational and lactation periods. Changes in neural development [11], insulin secretion [12] and thy- roid function [13] were reported in models of malnutri- tion during lactation in the malnourished weaning rat. Some authors showed that pre-pubertal malnutrition changes the serum and pituitary hormonal levels [14] and the morphological characteristics of gonadotrophs and mammotrophs [15]. Despite the fact that undernutrition-related reproduc- tive suppression in rats is a well-documented phenome- non [15, 16] , as yet, we do not have knowledge on how Key Words Undernutrition  Lactation  Testes  Seminiferous tubules  Stereology Abstract The goal of this study is to evaluate, through stereologi- cal methods, some structural aspects of offspring testes whose dams were submitted to protein and energy-re- stricted diets during the lactation period. At birth, dams were separated into 3 groups: control group (C), receiv- ing a diet with 23% protein; protein-restricted group (PR), receiving a diet with 8% protein; energy-restricted group (ER), receiving a diet with 23% protein in restricted quan- tities. At weaning, the offspring was anesthetized and perfused with formalin solution. Then, the testes were excised and processed using routine histological meth- ods. Compared to the C group, both PR and ER groups had a significant reduction in the testis weight (PR = 65%, ER = 60%, p ! 0.01), in the total area (PR = 23%, ER = 32%, p ! 0.01), in the luminal area (PR = 30%, ER = 36%, p ! 0.01), in the epithelial area (PR = 21%, ER = 27%, p ! 0.01), and in the epithelial height (PR = 17%, ER = 23%, p ! 0.01) of the seminiferous tubule. We conclude that maternal malnutrition during lactation leads to structural changes in the testis that could be responsible for future alter- ations in this organ physiology. Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel Received: October 5, 2004 Revised and accepted: August 23, 2005 Internationalis Urologia Dr. Cristiane da Fonte Ramos Urogenital Research Unit – UERJ Av. 28 de Setembro, 87 – fundos – FCM – terreo 20551-030, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil) Tel. +55 21 2587 6499, Fax +55 21 2587 6121, E-Mail cramos_uerj@yahoo.com.br © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel 0042–1138/06/0761–0063$23.50/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/uin