ABSTRACT
In Egypt, the wide indiscriminative use of pesticides and weak control measures result in the pollution of all environmental components. In the present work we use one of the carbamate group [Temik] to search for its effect on the fertility. Adult male and female rats were subjected to a daily oral administration of temik at a dose of 0.14 mg/kg which represents 1/10 of LD]50, for 10 and 20 days. The testis and ovaries were examined for the changes in collagen fibers, and the number of seminiferous tubules at the later stages of spermatogenesis was counted. Radioimmunoassay was done to measure the hormonal levels of testosterone and estrogen in the serum of rats. The number of seminiferous tubules at later stages of spermatogenesis showed marked decrease in the treated rats. There was a marked increase in stainability and irregular arrangement of collagen fibers in the interstitial areas and around the blood vessels in both testis and ovary. A decrease in serum testosterone and estrogen levels was observed in male and female rats subjected to the insecticide carbamate. All these effects became more pronounced in the rats toxicated for 20 days. These results may be due to the toxic effect of insecticide carbamate on the processes of protein synthesis and its inhibitory effect on the reproductive activity