Effects of Toxic Dose of Lead Acetate on Testicular Morphology in Albino Rats

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to observe the morphometric changes in the testes of albino rats exposed to lead acetate. Experimental animal study. This study was conducted from January to April, 2009 at National Institute of Health Islamabad. Animals were obtained from the animal house of N.I.H and were divided into two groups A and B. The animals in group A were used as control, while those of groups B were treated with lead acetate that was given intraperitonially in the dose of 4mg/kg body weight, 5 days a week for 6 weeks. After 6 weeks the animals of group A [control] and group B [experimental] were sacrificed by an overdose of ether anesthesia. The testes were fixed in formalin and then processed for paraffin embedding. Five micrometer thick section were cut, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and observed microscopically for germinal epithelium thickness and the basement membrane of seminiferous tubules. The histological comparison of testes of both groups of animals showed that after six weeks, the width of germinal epithelium and the number of spermatogenic cells had decreased in the test group as compared to the control group [p<0.05] and in majority of the seminiferous tubules, the basement membrane was disrupted