Short term effects of cis-platinum on male reproduction, fertility and pregnancy outcome.

In order to find out the short term effects of cis-platinum treatment on reproductive function of the treated male rats and their progeny, sexually mature male Sprague-Dawley rats were given a single intra-peritoneal injection of either saline or cis-platinum (2, 4, 8 mg./kg.body wt.). One week following the treatment, the animals were mated with proestrus females of proven fertility. The females were scored positive or negative depending upon whether or not spermatozoa were seen in the vaginal smear after mating. However, all the females were watched until day 18, and on day 19, the females that became pregnant were subjected to laparotomy, and the number of corpora lutea, implantation sites and fetuses were counted. The fetuses were weighted and observed for the presence of any morphological abnormalities. Significant pre-implantation loss was seen in the treated groups. The weights of the fetuses were also significantly lower than those from the control group. Analysis of the effects of cis-platinum on the reproductive system of treated males revealed that cis-platinum reduced the reproductive organ weights, sperm counts, sperm motility, fertility and the levels of testosterone, LH and FSH. These results suggest that cis-platinum has a profound deleterious effect on the reproductive system and on the fertility potential of the treated male rats.