ABSTRACT
Thiamphenicol [TAP], a class of chloramphenicol antibiotics, is still applied to control infections in medical and veterinary clinics despite its known side effects. To study the histological alterations that may occur in adult albino rat testis after TAP administration and stoppage and to evaluate the role of testosterone [TES] supplementation. 32 adult male albino rats were used in this study. They were equally divided into four groups. Group I was a control. Groups II, III and IV received orally once daily dose of TAP 200 mg/kg b.w. for successive 4 weeks after the first week group III were injected intramuscular with testosterone 10 mg/kg b.w once per week for 3 weeks whereas group IV was left without treatment for another 8 weeks. At the time of sacrifice, the testes were carefully dissected out and processed for light and electron microscope examination. The testes of TAP treated rats [Group II] showed many disorganized seminiferous tubules lined with vacuolated germinal epithelium and contained desquamated germ cells with darkly stained nuclei. Sertoli cells were lying on thick electron dense basement membrane. They contained large, irregular nuclei and their cytoplasm contained many vacuoles, some destroyed mitochondria and multiple electron dense granules. Transverse sections in the mid pieces of the sperms showed marked affection of mitochondrial sheath. The testes of TAP-TES treated group showed non significant improvement of the TAP hazardous effects. In group IV the seminiferous tubules were lined with spermtogonia and Sertoli cells. Multinucleated cells were also noticed. Some Sertoli cells had irregular electron dense nuclei and vacuolated cytoplasm. Others contained numerous swollen mitochondria and granules of different sizes and electron densities. In all experimental groups, the interstitial spaces showed abundant collagen fibres around blood vessels and there was no observable changes in the Leydig cells. The results of the present work revealed that TAP induced serious histological alterations in the testes of adult albino rats. Neither stopping TAP administration nor TES supplementation ameliorate the damaging effect of TAP. in clinical practice, TAP adverse effects must be taken into consideration for fear of infertility. So, further researches are suggested