الفهرس 
Male reproductive system
Percentage of the damaged tubules of the rat testes of group IIAOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Population nowadays is suffering from some mental or behavioral disorders. Our community is complaining from increase in the appearance of mental disorders with a lot of treatment options. Increasing prevalence of psychiatric disorders is not limited to adults, but also children and adolescents are subjected to such deviations. Therefore, the uses of antipsychotics have increased. Two main drugs are used Quetiapine and Aripiprazole. These have been used with satisfactory results and fewer side effects. Both Aripiprazole and Quetiapine are known to-act on the dopaminergic receptor and this receptor has been detected in the germ cells. Hence it became the aim of the present work to detect the histological changes induced by Aripiprazole versus Quetiapine on the structure of the seminiferous tubules of albino rat, as their lining begin from a germ cell until reach the mature one.
Fifty two male albino rats were used in this study; twenty six rats aged two weeks (pre-pubertal rats) and twenty six rats aged three months (Post-pubertal rats).
The rats were divided into the following groups:
group (I): Control group:
This group included twelve rats served as control untreated rats and was subdivided into: I A: six pre-pubertal rats and I B: six post-pubertal rats.
group (II): Aripiprazole group:
This group included twenty rats, subdivided into: II A: ten pre-pubertal rats and II B: ten post-pubertal rats.
group (III): Quetiapine group:
This group included twenty rats, subdivided into: III A: ten pre-pubertal rats and III B: ten post-pubertal rats.
After 45 days (immediately after stoppage of drug administration), half of the rats in each group were scarified.
The other half of each group were sacrificed after another 45 days (a recovery period; they were left without taking any drugs).
Dissection of the testes was done. Samples from both testes of all groups were taken and processed for Light microscopic study.
The testes of all groups showed that the seminiferous tubules lost their normal architecture pattern. Multiple vacuolations replaced the cellular elements. Focal depletions or generalized cellular loss occurred. The lumen was empty in most of the tubules. Irregularity of the tubules was a common finding as well as congestion of the blood vessels and exudation in between the tubules. Morphometric measures were done for all the groups and revealed decrease in the epithelial height of the germinal epithelium and decrease tubules perimeter and surface area. The groups treated with aripiprazole were affected more than those treated with quetiapine.
The recovery groups of aripiprazole still showed damage in the seminiferous tubules, which is more evident in the group that started the treatment prior to puberty. The percentage of the damaged tubules was high in the group that started the experiment before puberty. The adult group included less damage.
The recovery groups of quetiapine showed improvement of the structure of the seminiferous tubules, approaching the control pattern. However, few sections still revealed residual damage. The percentage of damaged tubules decreased in both groups.
The results were discussed and it was concluded that the adverse effect of aripiprazole on the seminiferous tubules exceeded that of quetiapine. Almost no recovery could be detected after aripiprazole withdrawal, while marked improvement occurred after quetiapine withdrawal. According to the previous results it could be concluded that aripiprazole and quetiapine have adverse effect on the seminiferous tubules of the testis. Quetiapine is less injurious than aripiprazole. Moreover after withdrawal of the drugs, the quetiapine treated groups almost regain the normal seminiferous tubular pattern, a fact not observed with aripiprazole.
Key words:
Aripiprazole – Quetiapine – Seminiferous tubules – prepubertal - postpubertal