DYNAMICS OF CHANGES IN THE VASCULAR BED AND ORGANOMETRICAL INDICATORS OF WHITE RATS TESTICLES DURING EXPERIMENTAL SKIN THERMAL INJURY AND UNDER THE CORRECTION WITH A XENODERMAL SUBSTRATE
Authors: Nebesna Zoiia , Lytvynyuk Diana , Kramar Solomiia , Ohinska Nataliia , Havryliuk-Skyba Halyna 
Published: March 2024

Abstract. According to the WHO, male infertility reaches 40 %, which is a potential threat to the loss of reproductive health in society. The cause of violations of the spermatogenic and hormonal functions of the testicles can be a thermal injury and a burn disease caused by it.Aim. To investigate the peculiarities of changes in the vascular bed and organometric parameters of the testicles during experimental thermal injury and under the conditions of using a xenodermal substrate.Material and methods. The study was performed on 40 sexually mature white male rats weighing 180.0-200.0 g. The experimental animals were divided into three groups: intact white rats; animals with severe thermal injury; animals with a burn injury, whose wounds were covered with a crushed substrate of cryolyophilized xenoskin after early necrotomy of damaged tissues. Animals were removed from the experiment under ketamine anesthesia for 1, 7, 14 and 21 days, and under correction conditions – for 7, 14 and 21 days. The spatial organization of the blood vessels of the testicles was studied using contrast X-ray angiography. To study the vessels of the microcirculatory bed of the animal’s testicles, the injection method was used with the injection of the colargol composition. Massometrically determined the animal’s body weight and the weight of the testicles. The length, width and thickness of the white rat’s testicles were measured organometrically. Statistical processing of the obtained quantitative data was performed using the software «Excel» and «STATISTICA» 6.0 using parametric and non-parametric methods.The results. According to the results of the study of the vascular bed of intact animals, the testicular artery, which branches oﬀ from the abdominal part of the aorta, is clearly distinguished on radiographs of the testis. The vessels of the microcirculatory channel form a dense network. The average length of the testis was (18,21±0,56) mm, width – (10,97±0,55) mm, and thickness – (9,77±0,38) mm. The organ’s weight in sexually mature individuals with an average body weight of (189,1±7,3) g was equal to (1,80±0,08) g, which is 0,95 % of the animal’s total body weight. The testicular artery, the vas deferens artery, and the levator testis muscle artery were well contrasted at early times after thermal injury. Extra-organ and intra- organ arteries, as well as the spaces between them, were dilated. Dilation of the vessels of the microcirculatory bed of the testis, stasis phenomena and impaired blood circulation in the hemocapillaries are established. In the animals of the second group with thermal injury of the skin, the weight of the testicles increased by 1,07 times on day 1 and decreased by 1,03 times on day 7 in comparison with the intact group of animals. The linear parameters of the testicles, as well as the weight of the organ, increased on the 1st day and decreased on the 7th day of the experiment. An unreliable decrease in body weight was recorded in comparison with intact rats. In the stages of late toxemia and septicotoxemia, a signiﬁ cant violation of blood supply, expansion of lumens of extra- and intraocular vessels, violation of the permeability of the vessel wall was observed. Massometrically, in the late periods after experimental thermal injury, a decrease in the body weight of animals was recorded; in particular, on the 21st day, this parameter was signiﬁ cantly (p<0,05) lower than the corresponding indicator in intact animals by 10,5 %. The weight of the testicles in the stages of late toxemia and septicotoxemia signiﬁ cantly decreased relative to the intact indicator by 13,3 % and 26,1 %. A decrease in the average data of the length, width, and thickness of the organs of the experimental animals was established.Under the conditions of correction of thermal injury in the experiment’s early stages, the animals’ body weight decreased by 2,59 % compared to the value of the intact animals. Organometric studies established that the average index of the mass of testicles decreased and is 0,94 about the value of the norm index. The average length, width, and thickness values are 0,98, 0,92 and 0,93, respectively, from the indicators of the intact group of animals. These parameters did not reliably diﬀ er from those of untreated animals. On the 7th day of the experiment, in the conditions of correction, a violation of the permeability of the vascular bed of the testicle and expansion of the lumens of arteries and veins was established. Organometric studies of the testicles of the third experimental group in the late period, in particular on the 21st day of the experiment, established that the average value of the mass of the testicles increases and is 0,99 relative to the intact indicator. Determining the linear dimensions of the testicles showed that their length, thickness, and width are unreliably diﬀ erent from similar intact indicators. The body weight of the animals during this experiment period was close to normal values and signiﬁ cantly (p<0,05) diﬀ ered from the body weight of untreated animals, exceeding it by 1,12 times. In the late stages of the experiment, under the conditions of correction, clear contrast of the turns of the testicular artery, intra- organ and extra- organ vessels of the testicular serpentine and uniform ﬁ lling of the microcirculatory channel with the injection mixture are observed.                                                                                                                                                                                                  Conclusions. It was established that using a xenodermal substrate for the correction of thermal injury contributes to the reduction of disorders of blood circulation and blood supply to the testicles and contributes to the relative preservation of massometric and linear parameters of the organ at the level of intact indicators.