Stereological study of prostate structural changes following electromagnetic field exposure in adult male rats

ABSTRACT

Stereology is a branch of applied mathematics that by using the two dimensional observations of different tissue parts in the microscopical and macroscopical level quantitatively and in three-dimensional have been studied. As the electromagnetic field like ionization radiants have high energy, using of these fields because of producing free radical can cause destructive effects. In recent years, the effects of this field have been studied on the different parts of body. In this study, 12 male Wistar rats were selected randomly and divided into two groups. The experimental group was exposed to 0.1 m Tesla [6 hour daily for 30 days] magnetic field. After treatment, all animals were anesthesized by diethyl ether and the prostate was removed and immersed in fixative solution and embedded in agar solution. After that other steps necessary for this study performed. Then Cavalieri principle was used to determine the allocated volumes. The total volume of the prostate in the control and test groups was 140.6300 and 160.7567 mm[3], respectively. The volume of glandular portion in control and test groups was 102.5700 and 119.0417 mm[3], while the volume of nonglandular portions was 37.7400 and 41.8250 mm[3], respectively. On the other hand the total weight of the prostate in the control and test groups were 0.3200 mg and 0.3917 mg, respectively. This study showed that electromagnetic field as prescribed in this study had no effect on prostatic volumes of rats