RESUMO
Objectives: The study was undertaken to investigate whether lead toxicity can reduce the diameter and spermatogenesis of testes of albino rats. If the reduction occurs, with what dose the animals can be protected by vitamin C against lead toxicity. Study Design: Experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was carried out at the Department of Anatomy, PGMI, Lahore from March 2007 to August, 2007. Materials and Methods: In this study, 90 animals [albino rats] were taken from National Health Institute Islamabad. These were divided into five groups. Each group has 18 animals as group A, B, C, D and E. Results: The lead treated animals reduced 16% of diameter in 4 weeks as reported by Harvey. The loss of diameter I and reduction in spermatogenesis was due to lead toxicity. In another study by Biswas and Gosh, the animals gave same results with lead toxicity in 14 days. In this experiment it has proved that lead toxicity reduced the body weight of albino rats and this toxicity can be protected with heavy dose of vitamin C. Conclusion: Vitamin C reduces the toxic effects of lead on diameter of seminiferous tubules and spermatogenesis of rats, which is shown in this study