Hematotesticular barrier is altered from early stages of liver cirrhosis: Effect of insulin-like growth factor 1

Figure 1 Microscopy of testes (× 150 magnification, Masson’s stain). Testicular histological sections of normal rat (CO) demonstrated active spermatogenesis in normal-size seminiferous tubuli with thin basement membranes and minimal peritubular fibrosis. Leydig cells were scarce, being widely separated by seminiferous tubuli. No evidence of peritubular fibrosis and other alterations were found in testes from cirrhotic animals.

Figure 2 Study of proliferative activity, assessed by PCNA immunostaining. A significant reduction of cellular proliferation were observed in rats with compensated cirrhosis. This reduction was normalized in IGF-1 treated cirrhotic group (CI + IGF). (× 200 magnification, in the three pictures).

Figure 3 Immunohistochemistry for testicular transferrin in seminiferous tubuli. Transferrin immunostaining was observed at the level of Sertoli cells and in germ cells in normal rats (CO) and in cirrhotic rats treated with IGF-1 (CI + IGF) but a lower or absent transferrin immunostaining was observed in several tubuli of untreated cirrhotic rats (CI) (score, CI: 3.40 ± 0.03, CO: 3.98 ± 0.04, CI + IGF-1: 3.76 ± 0.05).