The effects of Trypanosoma congolense infection on the testis and epididymis of the goat

Abstract

Five male non-castrated goats were each injected with 2 ml of blood from an infected goat containing about 0.75 million T. congolense/ml. Two goats died 4 weeks after infection; the remainder and five controls were killed 6 weeks after infection. Average weight of the testes was 22.5 g in infected goats and 74.8 g in controls. Histologically, the seminiferous tubules were small and their lumen contained no spermatids. Sertoli and Leydig cells were not affected, but all spermatogenic cells except a few spermatogonia had degenerated. The epididymal lumen was empty and contained no spermatids nor spermatozoa in the caput, corpus and cauda epididymis. Testicular degeneration may have been caused by ischaemia and/or toxaemia.