Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

1 Trichloroethylene (TCE) is an organic unsaturated solvent used in dry cleaning, metal degreasing, thinner for paints/varnishes, anaesthetic agents etc. Human beings are considerably exposed to TCE vapours by inhalation route.

2 TCE has been reported to induce spontaneous abor- tions and congenital cardiac malformation in occupa- tionally exposed women. However, scanty on-line information is available regarding toxic effects of TCE on male reproductive efficiency in experimental animals.

3 Our earlier observations with TCE inhalation in male rats (376 p.p.m., 4 h/day, 5 days a week) for 12 and 24 weeks using whole body dynamic inhalation chamber consistently showed significant decrease (P< 0.05) in total epididymal sperm count and sperm motility. The mating experiments of above TCE inhaled rats with virgin unexposed females showed significantly de- creased fertility.

4 These observations prompted us to investigate whether or not primary testicular steroidal precursors (choles- terol and ascorbic acid) and testosterone have any role in TCE induced significantly decreased epididymal sperm count, sperm motility and overall male repro- ductive inefficiency resulting therefrom.

5 The results indicate significant decrease (P< 0.05) in total epididymal sperm count, sperm motility, specific activities of enzymes Glucose 6-p dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and 17,B hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase (1 7fHSD) with concomitant decrease in serum testos- terone concentrations in TCE inhaled rats showing reduced male reproductive efficiency. There was net accumulation in total cholesterol contents in testes of TCE exposed rats.

6 The findings in the present study indicate possible impairment of testosterone biosynthesis in TCE in- haled rats after 12 and 24 weeks. These findings also serve in parts to elucidate the mechanism of repro- ductive inefficiency in TCE exposed rats. The role of testosterone in this phenomenon is being reported for the first time.

Keywords

trichloroethylene inhalation testes testosterone;rat 17 B-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenas

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1 Toxicology profile for Trichloroethylene. U.S. Department of Public and Human Health Services. Agency for Toxicity Substances Disease Registry (1995) Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

2 Laham S . Studies on placental transfer of TCE . Ind Med 1970; 39: 46-49 .

3 Goldberg SJ et al. An association of human congenital cardiac malformations and drinking water TCE contamination . Am I Cardiol 1990; 16: 155-164 .

4 Tola S et al. A cohort study on occupational workers exposed to TCE . I Occup Med 1980; 22: 737-740 .

5 Pradeep Kumar et al. Fertility and general reproductive studies in TCE exposed male rats. Fertility and Reproduction 1998. Communicated.

6 Dutta KK et al. Inhalation toxicity studies of Methyl isocyanate (MIC) in rats: Part-1 Pulmonary, pathological and genotoxicity evaluation . Id J Exp Biol 1988; 26: 177-182 .

7 Prasad AK et al. Effect of dermal application of Hexachloro-cyclohexane on male reproductive system of rat . Human & Experimental Toxicology 1995; 14: 484-488 .

8 Freund M , Carol B . Factors affecting hemocytometer counts of sperm concentration in human semen . J Toxicol Environ Hlth 1993; 38: 393-398 .

9 Srivastava S , Srivastava SP . Effect of di(2-ethylhexyl) pthalate on 17,B-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase . Toxicol Lett 1991; 57: 235-239 .

10.

10 Lowry OH et al. Protein measurement with the Folin Phenol reagent . I Biol Chem 1951; 193: 265-275 .

11.

11 Zlatkis A et al. A new method for the direct determination of serum cholesterol . I Lab Clin Med 1953; 41: 436-492 .

12.

12 Sikic P et al. Effect of Ascorbic acid on the toxicity of L-tryptophan . Arch Biochem Biophys 1977; 179: 663-671 .

13.

13 Lohr GW , Walter HD Glucose-6-P dehydrogenase. In: Bergmeyer HU (ed), Methods of Enzymatic Analysis 1974. 642-643.

14.

14 Fischer RA . In Fischer (ed), Statistical Methods for Research Workers 11th edition, London: Oliver and Boyd , 1950.

15.

15 Mckern K . The pentose-phosphate pathway, steroidogenesis and protein synthesis . Biochem Biophys Acta 1965; 100: 612-615 .

16.

16 Perlman PL . The functional significance of testis cholesterol and androgen biosynthesis following hypophysectomy and cryptorchidism . Endocrinology 1950; 46: 341-343 .

17.

17 Saxena DK et al. The effect of lead exposure on the testes of growing rats . Exp Pathol 1987; 31: 249-252 .

18.

18 Johnson AD et al. The effect of antispermatogenic and hormone treatments on testicular cholesterol . Fed Proc 1967; 26: 645-646 .

19.

19 Davis JT and Coniglio JG . The effect of cryptorchidism, cadmium and antispermatogenic drugs on fatty acid composition of rat testes . I Reprod Fertility 1967; 14: 407-410 .

20.

20 Ray A et al. Effect of Quinalphos on testicular steroidogenesis in rats . Andrologia 1988; 20: 163-168 .

21.

21 Donell L et al. Testosterone promotes the conversion of round spermatids between stages VII and VIII of the rat spermatogenic cycle . Endocrinology 1994; 135: 2608-2614 .

Steroidogenic alterations in testes and sera of rats exposed to trichioroethylene (TCE) by inhalation

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References