Gender Dependent Effect of Adrenaectomy on the Energetics in the Epididymis of Male and Uterus of Female Albino Rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus)

A decrease in the levels of glucose, glycogen and the activity of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) along with an increase in the levels of lactate, pyruvate and the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was observed in the epididymis of male and uterus of female rats on adrenalectomy (ADX) when compared with sham operated (SO) rats at days 15 and days 30 of experimentation. These results indicated suppression of oxidative metabolism and elevation of anaerobic glycolysis in the reproductive tissues of the male and female rats on adrenalectomy leading to the decrease in their energy levels. The magnitude of decrease, however, was significantly more in the uterus of female ADX rats than in epididymis of male ADX rats. And in both the animal groups the degree of decrease in the level of energetics was more at days 30 than at days 15. The over all results suggest that the impact of adrenalectomy on energetics was more in females than in males and it increases with the duration of experimentation.