Pattern of Gonadal Hormones in Oral Testosterone-Supplimented Male Wistar Rats with Diabetes-Induced Hypogonadism

Hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism, which is characterized by low serum testosteronee co-existing with elevated Luteinizing hormone (LH) and Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) has been reported to be a common finding in poorly managed diabetes mellitus (DM). This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of oral exogenous testosterone on the pattern of gonadal hormone profile in male Wistar rats, without any form of antidiabetic therapy. Twenty-one male Wistar rats were divided randomly into three groups of seven rats each as follows; Healthy control (HC) rats which were neither induced with diabetes nor treated with testosterone, Diabetic control (DC) rats which were induced with DM but were not treated with testosterone, and Diabetic/Oral Testosterone (D/ORT) rats that were induced with DM and treated with oral testosterone daily for four weeks. DM was induced via single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ) at a dose of 55 mg/kg. Result revealed a significantly elevated fasting blood sugar (FBS) in DC and D/ORT rats following induction of DM and throughout the study when compared to HC group (p