Morphological changes to mouse testicular tissue from in vivo ultrasonic irradiation (preliminary report)

Mouse testes have been ultrasonically irradiated in vivo and subsequently examined morphologically. Each testis was sequentially exposed for 30 sec at a spatial peak intensity of 25 W/cm² at a frequency of 1 MHz. The testes were removed at varying times post irradiation, from immediate to 19 days, fixed and histologically prepared and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and periodic acid Schiff. The results suggest that two types of ultrasonically induced damage occur wherein, for different specimens under identical exposure conditions, there is either semeniferous tubule disruption with a suggestion of minor intertubule space involvement or a more severe form of tubule damage with significant interstitial tissue involvement. It appears that spermatocytes are affected earlier than spermatogonia, contrary to the situation following ionizing radiation.