Investigation of Methamphetamine Effects on the Tissue Structure of the Main Gonadal in Rats

Methamphetamine is a stimulant of the central nervous system that is usually misused. This study aimed to determine the effects of methamphetamine on the diameter and thickness of seminiferous tubules of adult male rats’ main gonad.

Twenty adult male rats weighted 200 to 220 gr were used in the current study. They were divided into study and control groups, each consisting of 10 rats. The study group received 2 mg per body weight of methamphetamine in the first three days and 5 mg in the next four days in peritoneum. The control group, on the other hand, received 0.5 ml per rat of physiologic serum in the the peritoneum. Twenty-four hours after the last injection, the rats were killed, and the main gonad was taken out of the scrotum. After tissue passage and dying with hematoxylin and eosin, the main gonad was observed with an optic microscope, and the results were analyzed using an independent t-test. A value of P<0.05 was considered to determine the level of significance between the two groups.

The findings showed that using methamphetamine significantly decreases the average diameter and thickness of the epithelium of seminiferous tubules of rats. It was also found that the weight of rats and gonads decreased, but it was not statistically significant.

The results of this study show that methamphetamine is a poisonous compound for the main gonad of male rats due to the degeneration and atrophy of seminiferous tubules