Ahmet Ergün

Nicotine toxicity to the ultrastructure of the testis in rats

Objective To investigate the influence of nicotine exposure on the ultrastructure of the rat testis.

Ultrastructural Effects of Cigarette Smoke on Rat Testis

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural changes taking place in the testicular tissue of adult male Wistar rats following exposure to cigarette smoke. Twenty rats were exposed to smoke in a smoking machine for 2 h daily for 60 days; 10 control rats were placed in the machine for the same amount of time but were exposed to room air. After ether anesthesia and dissection of the animals, the testes were removed and fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde. The sections were examined under a transmission electron microscope. Evident degeneration and dissociation of the spermatogenetic cells were common findings. Basal lamina of the tubuli seminiferi contorti was thickened and significantly irregular. Cigarette smoke inhalation damaged the seminiferous epithelium. The primary spermatocytes as well as Sertoli cells appeared to be targets for the smoke. The results indicated that cigarette smoke inhalation could cause specific lesions in the development of spermatozoon, and it might be either directly or indirectly toxic to spermatogenesis.

Correlation of Seminal Parameters with Serum Lipid Profile and Sex Hormones

The phospholipids and fatty acid composition of sperm are altered under the influence of serum lipids on impaired seminal parameters in infertile men. We studied the correlation of the serum lipid profile and sex hormone results of a group of infertile men with sperm characteristics of 18 infertile men. Semen samples were collected and analyzed. Serum fasted and post-meal glucose levels, insulin, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, triglyceride, FSH, LH, and testosterone measurements were performed. The increased serum VLDL, total triglyceride, and testosterone values were significantly correlated with decreased sperm motility. Serum FSH values were also inversely correlated with normal sperm morphology. The increased VLDL impaired seminal parameters; additionally, increased triglycerides may have deleterious effects on spermatogenesis. Deterioration is related with increased serum VLDL and triglyceride levels.

Environmental tobacco smoke in rats.

OBJECTIVE We conducted this study to identify the effect of subchronic cigarette smoke inhalation on the vocal cord mucosa of the rat. DESIGN Experimental study. SETTING Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey METHODS Twenty-four male Wistar rats were divided randomly into experimental and control groups. The experimental group of rats was exposed to cigarette smoke for 2 hours each day over 60 consecutive days, and the control group was treated in an identical fashion but was exposed only to room air. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Transmission electron microscopic examination of the rat vocal cords. RESULTS We found very high levels of plasma thiocyanate after exposure to smoke in the experimental group but no increase in the control group. In the experimental group, mean plasma thiocyanate concentrations of 3.7 +/- 0.5 and 119 +/- 11.4 mmol/L were measured before and after exposure to tobacco smoke, respectively (p < .05). On the contrary, mean plasma thiocyanate levels of control rats were found to be 3.0 +/- 0.4 and 3.9 +/- 0.4 mmol/L, respectively, before and after exposure. In the experimental group, the epithelium covering the true vocal cords shows disturbed stratification. Some cells exhibit loss of desmosomal connections between cells and enlargement of the intercellular space. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrates that the larynx in laboratory animals is one of the sensitive and useful targets for assessing the harmful effects associated with environmental tobacco smoke.

Effect of lactulose supplementation on growth performance, intestinal histomorphology, cecal microbial population, and short-chain fatty acid composition of broiler chickens

This study investigated the effects of dietary lactulose supplementation on broiler growth performance, intestinal histomorphology, cecal microflora, and cecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations. A total of 245 one-day-old male broiler chickens were randomly assigned to 5 different treatments, with 7 replicates including 7 birds each. The birds received the same basal diet based on corn--soybean meal, and lactulose was included in the diet at 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, or 0.8% at the expense of corn and/or soybean meal. The body weight gain (linear, P=0.027) and feed conversion (linear, P=0.003) from 0 to 21 d showed significant improvement as dietary lactulose was increased from 0.2 to 0.8%. However, dietary lactulose did not affect broiler performance at the end of the experiment (42 d). Furthermore, intestinal measurements and the goblet cell count of broilers fed a lactulose-containing diet differed from those of birds fed a diet that did not contain lactulose. In addition, a significant quadratic response in the Lactobacillus count (P≤0.001) was observed at 42 d on increasing the level of lactulose. The cecal coliform bacterial population was not affected by the dietary treatments. Supplementation with lactulose significantly increased the concentrations of acetate, propionate, butyrate, and total SCFA measured on d 7 and d 42. In conclusion, inclusion of lactulose in the diet can enhance broiler performance and intestinal morphology by selectively stimulating intestinal microflora and increasing cecal SCFA concentrations.