The Effect of Increasing Resistance Training on Testicular Oxidative Stress and Quality of Spermatogenesis in Male Rats

Following physical activity in various tissues of the body, oxidative stress occurs and affects the antioxidant capacity and consequently the fertility of men negatively. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of resistance training on oxidative stress and spermatogenesis quality. 20 male rats of Sprague Dawley (weight 200-250, 4 months old) were randomly divided into two groups of resistance training and control group (n = 10). The exercise program included climbing a ladder by hanging the load to the tail for 8 weeks (5 days a week, 3 times 4 repetitions). During the program, the load gradually was increased, and in the last week, it reached to 200% of the animal body weight. After intervention, the mice were anesthetized in separate groups and testicular tissue was isolated to evaluate Malondialdehyde index as an oxidative stress marker and to determine antioxidant capacity by Frap method. Fixation, processing, cutting of testicular tissue and eventually coloring steps were examined by Hematoxylin and Eosin (H & E). The spermatogenesisqualitywas calculated based on Johnson method. The data were analyzed by independent t-test was used and significance level was considered p <0.05.
Findings: Increased Malondialdehyde levels were observed in the treatment group compared to control group (p =0.01). In the training group, the spermatogenesis quality was lower (p =0.013), the antioxidant capacity in the training group was significantly higher than the control group (p‏=0.83) and there isn’t any significant difference. The findings indicate thatdue to increased oxidative stress, increasing resistance training may have negative effects on the quality of spermatogenesis and men's fertility