Effects of Heat and Lead on the Reproductive System of Male Wistar Rat

introduction: wistar rats are an outbred strain of albino rats belonging to the species rattusnorvegicus. histopathological studies on the testis was carried out to determine the effects ofheat and lead on male fertility by evaluating some andrological parameters of the wistar ratsuch as morphology of spermatozoa, sperm count and motility. the main objective of thisresearch was to compare the deleterious effect of lead and heat on the male reproductive systemof a wistar rat.methods: fifteen adult male rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: group a were thecontrol group; group b were kept in hot environment above 42 degrees celsius; and group cwere administered 0.18mls of lead acetate solution per grams body weight once daily for 14days.results: the gonadotoxins caused morphological alterations of sperm cells in this studyincluding head, tail and middle defects which are indications of interference with maturationstage of spermatogenesis in the seminiferous tubules. the deleterious effect of the gonadotoxinson the seminiferous tubules is corroborated by histopathology which revealed degeneration ofepithelium of the seminiferous tubules. the degree of sperm cell motility was significantlylowered in animals exposed to gonadotoxins compared to animals in the control group and alsothe sperm cell count was lowered (p<0.05) in animals exposed to gonadotoxins in comparisonwith animals in the control group, as a result of decline in the production of normal, viablesperm cells in the test animals.conclusion: it was concluded that the gonadotoxins exert toxic effect on the seminiferoustubular epithelium with concomitant reduction in the reproductive abilities of the male ratsand as such exposure to heat and therefore high level of lead should be avoided both in animaland man.