TESTICULAR LIPIDS

Summary. Scrotal testes from control and unilaterally cryptorchid rats and rabbits and abdominal testes from animals unilaterally or bilaterally cryptorchid for 6 days were used in this study. Total cholesterol rose (P<0·05) in all abdominal testes as a result of increased (P<0·05) levels of esterified cholesterol. Fatty acids of the scrotal testes from unilaterally cryptorchid animals were only slightly changed by treatment. Changes in fatty acid esters in abdominal testes of unilaterally cryptorchid animals of both species were similar. These changes consisted of increases in most fatty acids with a chain length of 14, 16 and 18, both saturated and unsaturated. Abdominal testes of bilaterally cryptorchid rabbits differed from those of unilateral cryptorchids in that proportions of long chain fatty acids were more consistently increased in the former. Abdominal testes of the bilaterally cryptorchid rats also differed from the unilateral cryptorchids but less than in the rabbit. Differences in hormonal levels in the unilateral and bilateral cryptorchids are suggested as the most probable cause of difference in the abdominal testes of these groups.