Volume 58 (2008) Issue: 2008 No#1

Morphological changes of testes in zinc deficient boars

Author(s): Cigánková Viera, Mesároš P, Almašiová V, Bíreš J

Keywords:boar, zinc deficit, testes, light and electron microscopy

The aim of our study was to describe the morphological changes in the boar testes affected with hypozincaemia that was induced by zinc-deficient feed (barley meal). Our experiment was carried out on eight (n=8) 8-month old boars of Slovak large white breed. For 100 days the animals were fed only barley meal and had free access to drinking water. Before inclusion in the experiment, all animals were examined for serum zinc level by the method of atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Zinc serum levels in boars determined before the experiment reached 20.10±1.72
M. After 100 days of feeding barley meal the zinc level was 8.97±1.65
M which indicated hypozincaemia. By day 20 after parenteral application of Zindep inj. (Biotika, SR), the level of zinc increased to 22.13±1.45
M and by 60d it showed again a slight decrease to 18.46±1.056
M. The concentration of zinc in the barley meal was 30.14 mg/kg. Deficiency of zinc caused degeneration and depletion of the seminiferous epithelium and morphological changes in Sertoli cells. Seminiferous tubules were damaged to a variable degree. Morphological changes were observed also in Leydig cells and the number of malformed spermatids was increased. Zinc deficiency was accompanied with anorexia, growth disorders, and parakeratosis. A single parenteral application of the preparation Zindep® inj. at a dose of 0.2 mgZn/kg body weight resulted in a partial restoration of spermatogenesis within 20 days and complet recovery within 60 days following treatment.