[ effect of cadmium on hippocampus development of rat embryos and L-carnitine protective role]

Cadmium is a toxic metal which is widely used in industry. This metal exerts toxic effects on multiple organs, including nervous system. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of cadmium on weight and development of hippocampus in Wistar rat embryos and then determining whether L-carnitine, as an antioxidant, can protect hippocampus from the toxic effects. Female Wistar rats [250-300g] were used in this study. 24 hours after mating with male rats, the females were separated and their vaginal smears were examined for sperm detection. This day was considered as embryonic zero day. The female rats were divided into three groups: The control group which received no injection, the experimental group 1 which received 1mg/kg B.W cadmium and the experimental group 2 which received 1mg/kg B.W cadmium+500mg/kg B.W L-carnitin in days 7 and 10 of gestation. On day 17 of gestation, the animals were sacrificed by chloroform over dose and their embryos were removed surgically. The embryos were fixed in formalin 10% for 30 days, the weight of embryos were measured. Then tissue processing, sectioning and Hematoxylin-Eosin [H and M] staining were done. Some sections of hippocampus were evaluated using light microscope and MOTIC soft ware. The weight of embryos were significantly decreased in experimental groups. This decrease was significantly greater in the Experimental group 2. The number of cells and thickness of hippocampus layers were decreased significantly just in the second group. These findings indicate that cadmium has teratogenic effects on embryo's weight and development of hippocampus and at least a part of these effects may be inhibited by L-carnitine

[Effect of oral morphine consumption on lacunas development in ten day placenta pregnant wistar rats]

Previous studies indicated that morphine consumption during pregnancy could inhibit embryos development. Present study further evaluated the effects of oral morphine consumption on the placenta lacunas development in ten day pregnant Wistar rats. Female Wistar rats [W: 170-200 gr] were used in the present study. Experimental group were received morphine [0.05 mg/ml of tap water] after one night coupling with male rats for mating. On the day 10th of pregnancy, the pregnant animals were killed with chloroform and the placentas and uterus were removed surgically and fixed in 10% formalin for twenty days. The fixed placentas were processed and stained by H and E method and evaluated for their development. Thickness of layers, surface area of lacuna, as well as the number of cells in both maternal and fetal parts of the placentas was assessed by light microscopy. Our results indicated that the layer thickness of fetal portion and surface area of lacuna of the fetal and maternal portion of placenta reduced in experimental group. In addition, maternal portion layer thickness and cell number of the fetal and maternal portion of placenta increased in the experimental group. Our results showed that oral morphine consumption could inhibit natural function of placenta lacuna and fetal cell development

[Evaluation of L-Carnitine effect on the testis tissue of mature Exposed with Cadmium]

The evaluation of L-Carnitine effect on the testis tissue of mature rats exposed to Cadmium This research was carried out on 30 mature male rats, weighting about 180-240gr. Animals were divided into five groups. The first group [control group] received nothing. The second group [distilled water.0.3rn1] third group [L-Carnitine. 500 mglkg Body Weight] fourth group [Cadmium, lmg-kg B.W] and for the fifth group [L-Carnitine 500 mg/kg B.W and Cadmium 1mg/kg B.W] were injected intraperitoneally for 16 days at an interval of 48h between subsequent treatments. Animals were sacrificed on day 17 after the first treatment. For the evaluation of the sperm count the right cauda epididymis was removed and immidiately imrnei-sede into lOmI of the FIBSS. For the histological evaluation, the right testis was submerged into the 10% formaline. with innnuno-liistocheinical [Ki-67] staining, the number of ccll proliferation in the seminiferous tubes were evaluated, as well as the testicular histology evaluated by the Johosen Score. Following contamination with Cadmium the rats showed decrease in the number of cuda epididyniss sperm the number of cell proliferation and number of spernmtogenic cells in the seminiferous tubes. In addition L-Carnitine caused increase in the number of cuda epididymis sperm, the number of cell proliferation and number of spermatogenic cells in Cadmium induced group. Reasults demonstrated beneficial effects of L-Carnitine treatment in cadmium toxicity on number of cauda epididymis sperm and testicular tissue