Background & objective: Reproductive toxicity of cadmium (Cd) as an environmental toxicant has been proved in animals and humans. Exposure to Cd impairs testes organs and can reduce male fertility. The present study was designed to investigate the spectrum of histopathological changes in testicular tissue focusing on Sertoli cells in rats following Cd intoxication.
Methods: In the present experiment, acute testicular toxicity was induced by an intraperitoneal injection of 1.2 mg/kg CdCl2 to the animals in the test group, while the control group received normal saline. After 52 days, the animals were euthanized, and testicular tissue was stained by Hematoxylin and Eosin. In addition, immunohistochemical staining was performed on Sertoli cells for Wilms' Tumor, Melan-A, and CD99 to evaluate histopathological changes.
Results: Cd caused significant alterations in seminiferous tubules with varying effects on the patterns of spermatozoa production. These histopathological changes were significantly higher in the Cd group, compared to the control group.
Conclusion: The Cd-induced stepwise spectrum changes included sloughing, disorganization, hypospermatogenesis, spermatic cell arrest, germ cell hypoplasia, Sertoli cell-only pattern, fibro-hyalinized seminiferous tubules, and calcification. Sertoli cells accumulated and created multinucleated giant cells in the seminiferous tubules during the atrophic process, which could be dependent upon Sertoli cells viability and function.
Keywords: Cadmium toxicity; Rat; Sertoli cell; Testis.