TY - JOUR JF - IJT JO - IJT VL - 5 IS - 12 PY - 2011 Y1 - 2011/9/01 TI - Detrimental Effect of Atrazine on Testicular Tissue and Sperm Quality: Implication for Oxidative Stress and Hormonal Alterations TT - Detrimental Effect of Atrazine on Testicular Tissue and Sperm Quality: Implication for Oxidative Stress and Hormonal Alterations N2 - Background: Atrazine (ATR) is used as an agriculture herbicide worldwide. It has been shown that ATR adversely affect the reproductive system in rodents. In this study we aimed to evaluate the impact of chronic exposure to Atrazine (ATR) on male testicular tissue, sperm parameters, serum level of total thiol molecules (TTM) and malodialdehyde (MDA) content of testes. Methods: To follow-up this study, 72 adult and mature male rats were divided into test and control-sham groups. The animals in test group received the compound at dose levels of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg, b.w., orally representing the low, medium and high doses of ATR respectively for 12, 24, 48 days. Control-sham group received the corn oil (0.2 ml/day) in the same manner as test groups. Results: Light microscopic analyses revealed increased thickness of tunica albuginea, atrophied seminiferous tubules, arrested spermatogenesis, decreased leydig cells/ mm2 of interstitial tissue (2.0±0.7/mm2 in high dose received rats), vasodilatation and thrombosis. Sperm parameters assays showed that the sperm count (26.50±2.16×106 vs control 70.25±1.25), viability (21.26±2.58% vs control 90.75±6.23) and motility (12.00±1.58% vs control 90.41±2.12) decreased in ATR-exposed animals in a dose-dependent fashion. Biochemical analyses for TTM and MDA demonstrated that in ATR-exposed animals the serum level of TTM (0.100±0.005 Mol/ml vs control 0.321± 0.002) decreased significantly (P SP - 426 EP - 435 AU - Feyzi Dehkhargani, Sajad AU - Malekinejad, Hassan AU - Shahrooz, Rasool AU - Sarkhanloo, Rajab Ali AD - Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Urmia University, Urmia, Iran KW - Atrazine KW - Hormonal Alterations KW - Oxidative Stress KW - Spermatogenesis KW - Sperm Parameters UR - http://ijt.arakmu.ac.ir/article-1-37-en.html ER -