Atef_1995_Dtsch.Tierarztl.Wochenschr_102_01

The effect of Phoxim (Volaton) at two dosage levels (23 and 46 mg/kg b.wt.) on male reproduction tissues and their residues in rats were studied. The tested doses were given orally to male rats for 60 consecutive days. Sex organs weight analysis, semen picture, testosterone and cholinestrase enzyme (ChE) levels, histochemistry, histopathological changes and mating trials were the criteria used to evaluate the reproductive efficiency of the treated rats. There was a dose-related decrease in the weights of testicles and sperm motility associated with an increase in the percentages of dead and morphologically abnormal spermatozoa of treated rats. A decrease in plasma testosterone levels was observed in the treated groups. Histopathological examination revealed that phoxim caused testicular lesions characterized by moderate to severe degenerative changes of spermatogonial cells and by partial arrest of spermatogenesis. Plasma, brain and testicular ChE levels were reduced in treated rats. Phoxim and its oxygen analog concentrations were progressively increased by the time of exposure and represented double fold in liver as compared to that in skeletal muscles and testicles. The histochemical examination of testicles of treated rats showed a marked decreament in the ChE activity in tunica albuginea and sperms. A decrease in this enzyme was also noticed in liver hepatocytes, granular layer of the cerebral cortex and medulla of suprarenal gland.