Effects of temperature, photoperiod, and hibernation on the testes of golden hamsters

✍ Scribed by Frehn, John L. ;Liu, Chung-Ching

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1970
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 551 KB
• Volume: 174
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1401740307

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The effects of hibernation and 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks of cold‐exposure (5 ± 1° C) were studied on the testes of 100 adult, male hamsters (Mesocrietus auratus, Waterhouse), having initial body weights of 80 to 100 gm. Half of these animals were maintained on an eight‐hour photoperiod and half on a 14‐hour photoperiod. Control animals, at both photoperiods, were kept at 25 ± 1° C. At the time of autopsy, the wet weights of the testes were determined and the tissue was prepared for quantitative histological evaluation (diameter of the seminiferous tubules and spermatogenic activity). In animals kept at 25° C and 14 hours of light, the testes remained unchanged. With eight hours of light at the same temperature, however, the testes: (1) were unaffected for four weeks; (2) exhibited a 90% loss in wet weight at eight weeks; and (3) recovered to about 66% of the initial level at 12 and 20 weeks. In cold‐exposed hamsters, the testes decreased rapidly in activity between two to four weeks, reaching the lowest weight at eight weeks. Those cold‐exposed animals on 14 hours of light returned to the control level by 16 weeks, but those on eight hours showed only slight recovery. The testes of the 14‐hour light, cold‐exposed animals were larger than those of the eight‐hour light, cold‐exposed animals at each week tested. Only with the 14‐hour photoperiod were the testes of the hibernators significantly smaller than those of the cold‐exposed non‐hibernators.