There is a current interest from the food packaging, biomedical and agricultural sectors in hybrid materials formed from clays and natural polymeric compounds. However, research investigating the toxicity of vermiculite–cellulose nanocrystal (VERN) hybrid on the testes of Wistar rats is rare. Twenty rats, divided into control and treatment groups, were orally administered distilled water, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg bw VERN daily for two consecutive weeks. At the termination of experiments, the testicular organo‐somatic index, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and gamma‐glutamyl transferase activities were not significantly changed by VERN relative to the controls. Contrarily, myeloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase, and malondialdehyde levels were depleted in the testes of treated rats. Moreso, VERN increased follicle‐stimulating and luteinizing hormones, and decreased testosterone levels at the 20 mg/kg dose. Histology of the testes revealed healthy looking Leydig cells at the doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg VERN. Overall, these results indicate that oral exposure of VERN was not overly deleterious to the redox and structural histoarchitecture in the testes of rats.
The safety of vermiculite‐nanocellulose (VEN) hybrid on the male reproductive system is not known. Hence we investigated the effects of VEN on the biochemical and hormonal indices of rats. Animals were orally exposed to VEN at 0, 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg body weight for 14 consecutive days. Administration of VEN had no effect on organo‐somatic index of the testes. Although Gamma –glutamyl transferase, catalase and superoxide dismutase activities and hydrogen peroxide level remained unaffected, exposure of rats to VEN significantly depleted myeloperoxidase, glutathione peroxidase and malondialdehyde levels in the testes of treated rats, when compared to control. The spermiogram of VEN‐exposed rats showed a significantly higher sperm count and lower sperm morphology rates than control group. Treatment with VEN also significantly increased circulatory concentrations of follicle‐stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, and decreased testosterone levels at the 20 mg/kg dose. Histoarchitecture of the testes, in the treatment groups, except at the 20 mg/kg dose, revealed normal looking Leydig and Sertoli cells. The epididymis presented with tubules completely filled with spermatids across all treatment groups. Taken together, our study show that VEN could play an important role in male reproduction in rats, especially in redox regulation and stimulation of the gonadotropins.Support or Funding InformationThis research was done without specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not‐for‐profit sectors.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
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