Mercury-induced alterations in rat kidneys and testes in vivo

Abstract

In this study effects of mercury administration on the kidney and testicular structure of adult rats were evaluated. Rats received mercury (HgCl2) in single intraperitoneal dose 20 mg HgCl2 (group A), 10 mg HgCl2 (group B) and 5 mg HgCl2 (group C) per kilogram of body weight and were killed after 48 hours following mercury administration. After the preparation of histological samples the results were compared with control group (K). In kidney decreased diameters of glomeruli and renal corpuscles, damaged tubules with affected quality of tubular cells and infiltration of interstitium were detected. Quantitative analysis demonstrated increased relative volume of tubules and renal corpuscles. Also the number of nuclei and glomeruli was increased in all experimental groups. The diameter of glomeruli and renal corpuscles was decreased. In testis undulation of basal membrane, dilatation of blood vessels in interstitium and occurrence of empty spaces in germinal epithelium were observed. Decreased relative volume of germinal epithelium, increased relative volume of interstitium and increased apoptosis occurrence suggest damaged interstitium and revealed occurrence of edemas. The relative volume of seminiferous tubules showed higher luminization. The number of nuclei was decreased in all experimental groups what is in positive relation with occurrence of empty spaces. Also other evaluated criteria demonstrated significant differences between control group and experimental groups. This study reports a negative effect of mercury on the structure and function of kidney and testes.

Lead induced alterations in rabbit spermatozoa motility and morphology in vitro

“…Volume, spermatozoa count, motility, and morphology analysis demonstrating asthenospermia and teratospermia in exposed workers confirmed that long-term Pb exposure can bring about changes in the basic characteristics and functions of spermatozoa (Lerda 1992). A significant effect of Pb on the testes of rats was described previously by our group, particularly a decrease in the relative volume of seminiferous epithelium at high concentration (Massanyi et al 2007). Recently, we have reported that Pb is significantly negatively correlated with bull spermatozoa motility and progressive motility and significantly positively associated with malondialdehyde (MDA) as the marker of lipid peroxidation (Tvrda et al 2013).…”

“…After processing, the semen samples were incubated in the laboratory together with lead (lead chloride PbCl 2 ; Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) in sterilized air-tight test tubes under three different temperature regimes -at laboratory temperature (22°C), in refrigerator (4°C), and in incubator (37°C). For in vitro exposure, PbCl 2 was diluted immediately before use and in five experimental concentrations was added to semen samples except for the control group based on our previous studies (Massanyi et al 2003(Massanyi et al , 2004(Massanyi et al , 2007Slivkova et al 2009;Kolesarova et al 2010;Tvrda et al 2013). The experimental concentrations of Pb were: 0 µg/ml (control group KF), 0.45 µg/ml (group 5F), 1.79 µg/ml (group 4F), 4.02 µg/ml (group 3F), 7.15 µg/ml (group 2F), and 11.17 µg/ml (group 1F), as presented in detail in Table 1.…”

“…This apparent specificity depends on the dose and the duration of action of the compounds (Massanyi et al 2007;Kolesarova et al 2010;Roychoudhury and Massanyi 2014). Previous studies by our group described the Pb concentrations in testis and semen of animals, human semen, and their correlations to spermatozoa quality (Massanyi et al 2003(Massanyi et al , 2004(Massanyi et al , 2007Slivkova et al 2009;Tvrda et al 2013). Even though testis as a whole does not show higher Pb accumulation, testicular cells are sensitive to changes in the environment, and their function is influenced by many factors, including heavy metals (Krockova et al 2012;Toman et al 2012).…”

Overexpression of Ref-1 Inhibits Lead-induced Endothelial Cell Death via the Upregulation of Catalase

“…Based on our knowledge, it is well known that lead exposure increases the occurrence of cell death via apoptosis, such as neural (Suresh et al, 2006;Chetty et al, 2007), renal (Stacchiotti et al, 2009) and testicular cells (Adhikari et al, 2001;Massanyi et al, 2007). The cellular toxic effect of lead may be mediated by apoptosis.…”

Use of green tea polyphenols in ameliorates cadmiumsulfate toxic effectson Wisterrat' s female reproductive system

“…Different studies have shown that cadmium affects plasma gonadotropin level (29). (30),reported that lead and cadmium are known as reproductive toxins, which accumulate in granulose cells of the ovary and cause a significant reduction in gonadotropin binding which altered steroidogenic enzyme activity of these cells .Also some studies indicated that cadmium may interfere directly with hormone production in steroid producing ovary cells (31).Also saw cadmium has deteriorating effects on the reproduction of women who live near the polluted area (32).Cadmium also directly cause destruction to the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis (33).In this study cadmium sulfate ,inhibition of the serum hormonal levels of FSH and LH and causes damage in tissues of ovary and uterus ,all these changes may be returned to role of cadmium sulfate to release of free oxygen radicals that causes destruction of ovary and uterus tissues that is lead to decrease of FSH and LH hormones in serum or via directly effect of cadmium sulfate on the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis.…”