 perfusion with Bouin’s fixative. Processing of tissues was done for making paraffin blocks. 5mm thick sections were cut with a rotary microtome. Staining was done with haematoxylin and eosin.
Light microscopy of testis of control rats exhibited seminiferous tubules cut in various planes of section. The seminiferous tubules were lined by a stratified epithelium which consisted of two distinct population of cells
Testis of Carbaryl treated animals revealed distorted seminiferous tubules(Fig.2), disturbed spermatogenesis, loss of sperms and detachment of germ cells from the basement membrane (Fig.3),accumulation of cellular mass in the lumen of tubules (Fig.4) and oedema of the interstitial spaces with degenerated Leydig cells(Fig.5). All these findings were much significant with the high dose of Carbaryl.
There was marked histopathological changes as seen in photomicrographs. Degenerative changes in the cells of seminiferous tubular germinal layers were present, more marked in high dose group. Same finding was also reported by Rybakova (1966), Vashakidze (1975),Pant et al. (1995&1996). But Dikshith et al. (1976),Degraeve et al. (1976),Martin (1982) and Osterloh (1983) reported no histopathological changes in the testis. The exact mechanism for these changes are still not clear. The spermatogenesis was also depressed which is well supported by the similar findings by Kitagawa (1977), who reported reduced number of spermatogonia in the experimental group.
The above changes may be attributed to the malfunctioning of liver(Lox,1984) and Kidney( Kiran et al.1985) which causes general systemic toxicity due to some toxic factors in peripheral circulation which influence testicular functions.The cause of testicular histopathology in the present study may be due to the degenerated Leydig cells which leads to depressed testosterone level. So with the present study it may be speculated that Carbaryl adversely affects the fertility of human beings by affecting spermatogenesis.
Fig. 1 Testis of a control rat showing spermatogonia (small arrow) and interstitial space (large arrow) H/E stain x 400
Fig. 2 Arrow pointing the distorted seminiferous tubules. H/E stain x 100
Fig. 3 Depressed spermatogenesis, loss of sperms (small arrow) and detachement of germ cells from the basement membrane (large arrow). H/E stain x 400
Fig. 4 Arrow showing accumulation of cellular mass in the lumen of seminiferous tubules. H/E stain x 400
Fig. 5 Arrow showing interstitial oedema with degenerated Leydig cells. H/E stain x 400