ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate the effects of chronic stress in the prostate of prepubertal and adult rats. Methods: Thirty-two male rats were assigned into four groups depending on the type of treatment (control or stressed) and the age at which stress was initiated (prepubertal or adult). Restraint stress stimuli were applied for six weeks. Stressed prepubertal and adult rats evaluated immediately after the last stress stimuli were named SP and SA groups, respectively. Age-matched rats were used as control groups (CP and CA). At the end of the experiment, the rats were euthanized, and prostate morphological parameters were evaluated and statistically compared. Results: Application of stress stimuli to the SP group resulted in reduced body weight, but no prostate morphological modification was noted. The SA group showed reduced testosterone level and prostatic epithelium surface density, in comparison to CA group. Further, the prostatic lumen surface density was increased in adult stressed animals, in comparison to adult controls. Conclusions: The stress stimuli promoted changes in hormonal and morphological parameters in the prostate of adult stressed rats. Prepubertal stressed animals did not presented modifications of prostate morphology.

PURPOSE:To investigate the seminiferous tubule histological morphology after an 8 mmHg pneumoperitoneum in the rat model. METHODS: Fourteen rats were divided into two groups: a Sham group submitted to anesthesia and a pneumoperitoneum (Pp) group submitted to abdominal insufflation at 8 mmHg during three hours, followed by desuflation. All rats were killed after six weeks, testicles were collected and evaluated for the tubule diameter, germinative epithelium height and Johnsen´s score. Means were compared by using the Student's-t-test. RESULTS:The seminiferous tubule diameter was diminished by 11.3% in the group submitted to pneumoperitoneum (p<0.05). No significant difference was found among the groups when analyzing the epithelium height and Johnsen´s score. CONCLUSION:In the rat model, the seminiferous tubules present structural alterations when subjected to pneumoperitoneum of 8 mmHg during three hours.