Undernutrition during foetal and post-natal life affects testicular structure and reduces the number of Sertoli cells in the adult rat.

To test whether undernutrition during foetal to pre-pubertal life would have long lasting effects on testicular histology in adult male offspring, eleven adult Sprague-Dawley pregnant rats were divided into two groups: Control group, n = 4, fed ad libitum, during gestation and lactation (until 25 day post-partum). Underfed group pregnant females (n = 7) were kept in cages where only dams had access to food (standard rat chow, 33.5% of ad libitum intake of Control group pregnant dams). After parturition, litters were adjusted to either 14 (Underfed group) or eight (Control group) pups. Mothers were weighed weekly. At 25 day of age pups were weaned, housed at four animals per cage, fed ad libitum and weighed weekly until euthanized at 100 day of age. Testes were processed for standard histology and morphometrical evaluation. At weaning, mother weight was lower in underfed than in Control group (mean +/- SD): 214.1 +/- 26.2 g vs 361.9 +/- 33.1 g. Body weight at 100 days of age (254 +/- 26.9 g vs 342.4 +/- 10.2 g, p <or= 0.001), testicular weight (1.29 +/- 0.16 g vs 1.45 +/- 0.13 g, p = 0.03), number of Sertoli cells per seminiferous tubule cross section (18.2 +/- 1.2 vs 20.2 +/- 1.3, p <or= 0.01) and per testis (30.5 +/- 4.2 x 10(6) vs 36.0 +/- 5.4 x 10(6)) were lower (p < 0.05) in Underfed than in Control group. This is the first report stating that foetal to pubertal subnutrition is accompanied by changes in testicular structure and lower Sertoli cell numbers in adult life, strongly suggesting lower daily sperm production.