The Anti-Reproductive Effects of Long Term Oral Administration of Cadmium on the Adult Male Rat |
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| Authors: | Barbara Zielinska-Psuja A Lukaszyk W Senczuk |
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| Institution: | Department of Toxicology, Institute of Bioanalysis and Exploration of Environment;Department of Histology and Embryology, Institute of Biostructure, Academy of Medicine, Poznan, Poland |
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| Abstract: | The toxic effects of prolonged oral administration of cadmium on gametogenic and endocrine function of testes of adult rats were investigated. The experimental animals received daily, for 3, 6, 12 or 15 months, pellets containing 8.8 mg or 88 mg of cadmium chloride per kg body weight.
The rats treated with the higher doses of cadmium for 12 and 15 months showed a marked reduction in absolute weight of testes accompanied by histological signs of impairment of seminiferous tubules. There were no necrotic changes but a number of cross-sections of seminiferous tubules were deprived of spermatocytes and spermatids, reaching about 50 per cent of the tubules in the rats treated with higher doses of cadmium. The appearance of histological changes in rats treated for 12 and 15 months correlated with cumulation step of cadmium in testes and with alterations in serum concentration of LH but not of testosterone. Therefore, we suppose that under these experimental conditions the impairment of seminiferous tubules was induced by the direct influence of cadmium on germinal epithelium beginning the moment when cadmium reaches an effectively toxic concentration in testis. |
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| Keywords: | cadmium prolonged oral administration germinal cell depletion serum LH and testosterone concentration |
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