Effects of chronic nicotine administration on male fertility in albino rats [an experimental study]

This work was designed to investigate the effects of intraperitoneal administration of nicotine in different doses over a period of 60 days on the fertility of adult male albino rats. Ninety-four adult male albino rats were used in this study and divided into four groups: A control group of ten rats received saline only and three test groups each containing 28 rats. Each of the test groups received a different dose of nicotine [0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 mg/kg b. w., respectively, every other day for 60 days]. Each group was further subdivided into three subgroups; the first [14 rats] was sacrificed immediately after 60 days, while the second and third subgroups [seven rats each] were sacrificed one and two weeks after stopping nicotine therapy. By the end of the experiment, blood samples were obtained from sacrificed rats and used for hormonal assay [testosterone and leutinizing hormone levels]. Then, the rats were subjected to epididymal spermatozoal examination and histopathological study of their testes. The results were presented and discussed