Correlative histochemical and biochemical studies on the adenosine triphosphatase, succinic dehydrogenase and acetylcholinesterase in the epididymis of mice after alpha-chlorohydrin treatment

The present paper deals with the correlative histochemical and biochemical studies of the epididymis following the treatments of alpha-chlorohydrin. This drug was administered in chronic low dose (15 mg/kg body weight/day) for 20 and 30 days and a single high dose (90 mg/kg body weight). Histochemical alterations of ATPase, SDH and AChE were studied in various components of epididymal epithelium and the total enzyme content was measured by biochemical parameters. The study shows progressive decrease of the enzymes in the interstitium and the epithelium of both the caput and cauda epididymes with increasing dose and duration, except for the high dose effect of alpha-chlorohydrin on AChE. Since alpha-chlorohydrin decreases the androgen dependent enzymes (ATPase, SDH, AChE), there is a possibility that the drug may be antiandrogenic in nature. In such case the action of these drugs may not be directly on the spermatozoa, as proposed by earlier workers, but is mediated by changing the physiology of the epididymis, affecting the milieu in which the spermatozoa mature.