Al-Qadisiyah Journal of Veterinary Medicine Sciences
Official Journal of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah

Reproductive Performance of Adult Male Rats Previously Exposed to Aflatoxicosis at Pre-puberty

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Hussein Hamid Abed Al-Hichamy
Jabbar Abbas Ahmed Al-Saaidi

Deptartment of Physiology, Pharmacology, and Biochemistry, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Diwaniyah City, Iraq.

https://doi.org/10.29079/qjvms.2024.184130
Abstract
Aflatoxin-induced reproductive toxicity was investigated in adult male rats. To investigate the effect of pre-pubertal exposure to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on semen quality in male rats after puberty. Eighty premature male rats (35 days old) were assigned equally to control and treatment groups. The males were daily administered with distilled water and AFB1 (0.3mg/kg/day) per os, respectively. After 15, 25, and 35 days of treatment (pre-puberty, puberty, and post-puberty stags, respectively), ten males from each group were weighed, anesthetized, and sacrificed. Testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles, and prostates were dissected and weighed. At puberty (25 days of treatment) and post-puberty (35 days of treatment), the tail of the epididymis was dissected for semen analysis, including sperm motility, sperm count, sperm viability, and sperm abnormality. Following 15, 25, and 35 days of exposure, the AFB1-treated group revealed a decline in the relative weight of testes, epididymis, seminal vesicle, and prostate than the control group, early at the pre-pubertal stage, which continued at pubertal and post-pubertal-stages. Sperm motility, sperm count, and sperm viability were significantly decreased, while sperm abnormality was significantly increased in the AFB1 group, at puberty and post-puberty. Females matted with AFB1 treated males revealed significant decrease of pregnancy rate, number of offspring, and litter weight at birth in comparison with those matted with control males. Altogether, these results showed an adverse effect of pre-pubertal exposure to AFB1 on male reproductive performance with impaired spermatogenesis after puberty.

Keywords

Aflatoxin B1
Fertility index
Reproductive performance
Semen
testes
Crossmark
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Al-Qadisiyah Journal of Veterinary Medicine Sciences
Volume 23, Issue 1
May 2024
Pages 26-34

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