Correlation of Serum Lipid Profile with Testosterone Levels and Histological Structure of the Testes in the Goat

Previous studies demonstrated that dietary supplementation with appropriate polyunsaturated fatty acids can produce major increases in spermatogenesis and improvement in sperm quality. To investigate the correlation of serum lipids and lipoproteins with spermatogenic activity and histomorphometric structure of the testis, 10 male goats were divided into three equal groups included one, two and three years of age and blood samples were collected from the jugular vein. The serum concentrations of total cholesterol and triglyceride were measured by enzymatic method, serum levels of lipoproteins were determined by precipitation method. The serum levels of testosterone were measured by Radio Immuno Assay method. For histomorphometric study, the 5 μ sections were made and stained with Hematoxyline-Eosin. Data was statistically analyzed by the one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests (p≤0.05). Results showed that serum levels of total cholesterol, triglycerids, VLDL-c and LDL-c had not significant differences between different ages. The serum levels of HDL-c, testosterone, as well as the area of spermatic tubules and testicular interstitium, diameter of seminiferous tubules, germinal epithelium height, number and diameters of the leydig cells; number of spermatid cells had significant increase from one year group to two years group but significant decrease from two years animals to three years group. The serum HDL-c values were significantly correlated with the number of leydig cells as well as testosterone serum levels. Also triglycerides values had correlated with germinal epithelium height. It can be concluded that increased serum levels of HDL-c and triglycerides have respectively a benefit and deleterious effects on the spermatogenic activity and histomorphometric structure of the testes in the male goats of Ilam province.