ABSTRACT
Industrial copper ingest is a common form of poisoning in animals. Zinc has an important role in the physiology of spermatozoa, in sperm production and viability. This study was set to investigate whether the adverse effects of long term copper consumption on quality of rat spermatozoa could be prevented by zinc therapy. Forty eight mature [6-8 weeks old] male rats were randomly allocated to either control [Cont, n=12] or three treatment groups each containing twelve animals. Animals in the first treatment group was gavaged with copper sulfate, the second treatment group was injected with zinc sulfate, and the third treatment group was given combined treatment of copper and zinc. Control animals received normal saline using the same volume and similar methods. Six rats from each group were sacrificed on day 28 and 56 after treatments for sperm quality evaluations. In spite of testicular weight reduction 56 days after copper consumption in comparison to the control group [p=0.002], there was not a significant difference between the control and combined treatment of copper and zinc group [31.40 +/- 0.55 vs. 28.63 +/- 0.55, p=0.151]. Administration of copper caused a significant decrease in the sperm count, viability and motility after 56 days compared to the control group. However, a complete recovery in sperm count was seen in combined treatment of copper and zinc group after 56 days compared to the control group [p=0.999] and a partial improvement was seen about the percentage of viability and motility [p<0.001]. Adverse effects of long term consumption of copper on sperm quality could be prevented by zinc therapy in rats
Subject(s)
Male , Animals, Laboratory , Zinc , Copper/adverse effects , Rats, Sprague-Dawley , Zinc Sulfate , Copper SulfateABSTRACT
Objective: Exposure to environmental toxicants such as copper has been suggested to have adverse effects on male reproduction. Therefore, our aim in the present study was to investigate morphometrical changes of rat testes following long term consumption. Methods: Animals were divided into three experimental groups. Two different doses of copper sulfate were applied once a day for 8 weeks by gavage. The first treatment group received copper sulfate at a dose of 100 mg/kg (Cu100 group) and the second treatment group was given copper sulfate at a dose of 200 mg/kg (Cu200 group). Control animals received normal saline using the same method. Testes from five cases of 15 animals of each group were removed for histopathological examinations on days 14, 28 and 56. Morphometrically, seminiferous tubules diameter, spermatogonial cells nuclei diameter, sertoli cells nuclei diameter and epithelial height were measured in the experimental groups. Meiotic index and the percentage of spermatogenesis were also calculated.Results: The mean values of about mentioned morphometrical parameters in copper treated groups showed significant decrease on 14th day compared to the control group. Copper administration caused a significant damage to morphometrical parameters on 28th day compared to the day 14. Also, in some parameters further decreases were observed specially in the Cu200 group on 56th day such as the diameter of seminiferous tubules, spermatogonial and sertoli cells nuclei and epithelial height of germinal layer (P<0.05). Conclusions: The results show that exposure to copper has the deleterious effects on morphometrical structure of testes which are appeared as early as two weeks.
ABSTRACT
Retinoids have been suggested to play a role in oogenesis and oocyte survival. In the present study the effects of retinol palmitate were investigated on differential follicular counts in response to superovulation as well as follicle quality after vitrification of ovaries. Ten, 4 week old female BALB/c mice were randomly assigned to either paraffin [n=5] or retinol palmitate [n=5] administration. Vitamin A administered animals received [i.p.] 250 IU retinol palmitate, dissolved in 0.1 ml of paraffin oil on days one and ten followed by superovulation with 10 IU PMSG. Paraffin administered mice were only treated with 0.1 ml of paraffin oil. The collected left ovaries from both paraffin and vitamin A administered groups were considered as non-vitrified and the collected right ovaries from both treated groups underwent vitrification. Ovaries in the vitrified group were frozen sequentially by placing into two vitrification solutions [VS1: 10% ethylene glycol [EG], 10% DMSO in holding medium] TCM-199 + 20% FBS: HM] and VS2: 20% EG, 20% DMSO in HM]. After warming, recovered ovaries as well as nonvitrified ovaries were serially sectioned and examined histopathologically. The proportion of antral follicles in the non-vitrified ovaries from vitamin A administered mice was statistically higher than the non-vitrified ovaries from paraffin administered group [29.4% vs. 15.6%, respectively; p<0.001]. No difference due to retinol palmitate injection was observed for the rate of small follicles between the two non-vitrified groups. The percentage of damaged follicles did not show any significant differences between the two vitrified groups [76% vs. 79%]. Our results demonstrate that administration of retinol palmitate may improve the response to superovulation through the shift of follicular growth towards antral follicle development. However, no positive effect of retinol palmitate in the quality of follicles is probable when ovaries are vitrified