ABSTRACT
The harmful effects of nicotine on male fertility have been reported in experimental and clinical studies. However, the protective effect of vitamin [vit.] E against this toxicity is still a matter of controversy. To investigate a short time toxic effect of nicotine on the rat testis and to determine the possible protective role of vii. E [alpha-tocopherol] against this toxicity. Fifty four male albino rats were maintained for 15 days as follows: Group I, control group that divided into negative and positive control; group II, nicotine group [1mg/kg/day, intrapertonial [ip]] and group III, nicotine + vit. E [75mg/kg/day, intragastric [ig]. At the end of experimental study, testicular tissues and bone marrows were taken for histological, molecular and cytogenetic studies. Comparing with the control it was found that, simultaneous administration of vit. E and nicotine showed protective effect of vit. E against: Flistotoxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity of the nicotine, through increase in the thickness of germinal epithelium with significant [P<0.05] increase in the diameter of the seminilerous tubules, decrease in the nucleic acid destruction and significant decrease [P<0.05] in chromosomal aberrations, respectively. The present results seem to be rather surprising in view of the fact that nicotine could destroy testicular tissues in a short time duration and vit. E could produce partial protection through its antioxidant mechanism. Further studies are necessary to illuminate the other dark sides of nicotinic infertility in human spermatozoa and to discover others protective agents against its toxicity