Effects of Heat and Lead on the Reproductive System of Male Wistar Rat

Wistar rats are an outbred strain of albino rats belonging to the species Rattus norvegicus. Histopathological studies on the testis was carried out to determine the effects of heat and lead on male fertility by evaluating some andrological parameters of the wistar rat such as morphology of spermatozoa, sperm count and motility. The main objective of this research was to compare the deleterious effect of lead and heat on the male reproductive system of a wistar rat. Fifteen adult male rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: group A were the control group; group B were kept in hot environment above 42 degrees Celsius; and group C were administered 0.18mls of lead acetate solution per grams body weight once daily for 14 days. The gonadotoxins caused morphological alterations of sperm cells in this study including head, tail and middle defects which are indications of interference with maturation stage of spermatogenesis in the seminiferous tubules. The deleterious effect of the gonadotoxins on the seminiferous tubules is corroborated by histopathology which revealed degeneration of epithelium of the seminiferous tubules. The degree of sperm cell motility was significantly lowered in animals exposed to gonadotoxins compared to animals in the control group and also the sperm cell count was lowered (P<0.05) in animals exposed to gonadotoxins in comparison with animals in the control group, as a result of decline in the production of normal, viable sperm cells in the test animals. It was concluded that the gonadotoxins exert toxic effect on the seminiferous tubular epithelium with concomitant reduction in the reproductive abilities of the male rats and as such exposure to heat and therefore high level of lead should be avoided both in animal and man.