Non concurrent multimodal stress decreases sperm quality and motor activity in male wistar albino rats

Abstract

Every human being is exposed to the stress in one or the other form in the day to day life. Most of the existing studies on the impact of stress on the male reproduction were assessed by using single stressor, which may lead habituation to that stressor. The present study intends to estimate the consequence of stress on motor activity, sperm quality and histopathology of the testis in stress-induced male rats using multimodal stress one per day. Four weeks old Wistar albino rats were randomly split into 4 groups and induced multimodal stress at different ages of life span. After induction of stress serum corticosterone levels, muscle strength and coordination, quality of sperm and histopathology of testes were estimated. Elevated serum corticosterone levels and body weight, reduced muscle strength, coordination. Sperm concentration and motility was significantly reduced and increased morphologically abnormal sperm in stress induced animals but sperm viability was not altered much. Histopathology of testes in stress received animals showed decreased tubular diameter and increased intertubular space. Multimodal stress caused elevated serum corticosterone and body weight, decreased motor activity, sperm quality and degenerative changes in the testis.