engleski

Reproductive toxicity of atrazine in male rat

There is a growing evidence of toxic influences of atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-s-triazine), a widely used agricultural herbicide, on human and animal health. In present work the effect of atrazine on reproductive performance in male rat was studied. Sexually mature animals were treated with atrazine either orally with 120 mg kg-1 body wt daily, during 7 days (short-term treatment, STT), or intraperitoneally with 30 mg kg-1 body wt twice a week over 60 days (long-term treatment, LTT). At the end of treatment rats were mated with intact females. STT did not affect either the rate of successful mating, or the size of litters. LTT caused a decrease of successful mating and increase in mortality of offsprings. Testicular sperm number (expressed as number of sperm per 500 Sertoli cells) after LTT was 21.8% lower than in control animals. Also, the analyses of epididymal sperm number and sperm motility showed a decrease for 42.7% and 56.8%, respectively. When male rats of F1 generation (long-term treated parent fathers) were mated with intact females the number of inseminations and of pregnancies was also decreased in comparison with the control, but the survival of F2 offsprings was higher than in F1 generation. The short-term exposure did not diminish the reproductive performance in male rat, probably while the whole cycle of spermatogenesis was not affected. The 60 day exposure exerted marked reproductive toxicity in male rat. The reproductive performance was affected not only in F0 generation, but also in F1 male offsprings.

atrazine; fertility; rat

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