Apoptosis of the contralateral testis after unilateral testicular injury. Experimental study

INTRODUCTION: The results of both clinical and experimental studies suggest that some testicular unilateral lesions cause infertility due to disruption of spermatogenesis. The cellular mechanism responsible for the degenerative changes is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: Study of the cellular viability in the contralateral testis after unilateral testis injuries. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Six groups of 10 prepuberal Wistar rats subjected to unilateral testicular lesion. To identify the cellular death by "apoptosis" in situ, analysis of DNA fragmentation was performed in cytometric flow. RESULTS: The present study demonstrated an increase of the apoptosis in the contralateral testis after unilateral testicular lesion.