Protective Effects of Hydrogen against Low-Dose Long-Term Radiation-Induced Damage to the Behavioral Performances, Hematopoietic System, Genital System, and Splenic Lymphocytes in Mice

Figure 9

Photomicrograph of mouse testes after different doses of radiation and hydrogen treatment. Sections of adult mouse testes were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining. For the vehicle mice (0 Gy, nonhydrogen, (a)), the testes showed normal testes histoarchitecture with successive stages of spermatogenesis which include spermatogonia (SG), spermatocytes (SC), different stages of spermatids (SD), and spermatozoa (SP) surrounding a central lumen, and interstitial cell (I) and basal membrane kept their normal morphology as well. In addition, no apparent damage was detected in the 0.1 Gy dose groups, whether treated with hydrogen (c) or not (b). As low as 0.5 Gy radiation (d) was able to cause a disrupted organization (V: vacuole), the absence of spermatozoa (L: lumen), reduction of the depth of spermatogenic epithelium, and decreased interstitial tissue (thick arrow). However, tubular structure was restored to be nearly normal in the case of 0.5 dose-radiated with hydrogen-treatment groups (e), in which the interstitial cells increased apparently (thick arrow). For male BalB/c mice seminiferous tubule, more severe damage occurred with 1 Gy dose radiation (f), with a much decreased cellular density, and disorganization and vacuoles almost all over the tubules. By contrast, in cases of hydrogen (g), cellular density was elevated, as well as interstitial cells and spermatozoa. Testicular tissue of mice receiving 2 Gy doses of irradiation showed severe degenerative changes involving the majority of the seminiferous tubules characterized by shrunken, disorganized seminiferous tubules (indicated with an asterisk), severe and large vacuoles, and scarce interstitial cells. The seminiferous tubules were almost devoid of spermatozoa. Amazingly, testis from hydrogen-treated 2 Gy irradiated mice showed milder histological alterations with almost normal spermatogenic cycles. Hydrogen eliminated most of the morphologic alterations above, raising the cell density, sperms, and even the interstitial cells as much, though the diameters of the tubules were reduced and the vacuoles lessened slightly as well. (H&E: ×200. Scale bar = 100 μm.)

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