Abstract:
The effects of Trypanosoma brucei infection on testicular morphology and function and the changes associated with treatment of infectedm dogs with diminazene aceturate were studied using fifteen Nigerian adultmale dogs.The dogs were randomly assigned into three groupsA,B and C consisting of five dogs each.Groups A and B were infected with 1×106 try-panosomes and group C was the uninfected control. Following infection, parasitaemia levels were monitored daily whereas the rectal temperature,body weight,packed cell volume,scrotal circumference and serum testosterone levels were monitored weekly.At parasi-taemia peak,dogs in group A were orchidectomised while dogs in group B were treated with 7.0 mg/kg body weight of diminazene aceturate(DA).Dogsin groups B and C were later orchidectomised on day 73 of the experiment.The harvested testes and epididymides were weighed and the epididymal sperm reserves of all the dogs determined.Also the sperm quality (mass activity,sperm motility and sperm morphology) were determined.The testes were sectioned after processing and studied histomorphologically.Acute try-panosomosis was observed following infection.The low serum testosterone levels observed from day 14 post infection(pi)gradually improved following treatment.Testicular weight,epididymal weight and sperm quality were significantly low(p<0.05)in the infected dogs when compared to the control group but gradually improved following treatment.Histo-morphological studies revealed testicular degeneration characterized by depopulation of seminiferous tubules and depletion of spermatogenic cells in dogs of group A whereas the tissue sections of the testes of dogs in group B were similar to those of the control group.It was therefore concluded that infection of dogs with T.brucei adversely affected testicular morphology and function.Treatment with diminazene aceturate reversed the reproductive abnormalities caused by the parasite
