Evaluation of Aluminium Phosphide Induced Testicular Toxicity in Wistar Rat: The Role of Allium sativum

Objectives: To investigate the ameliorative effect of garlic extract on Aluminum Phosphide induced toxicity on the testes of adult Wistar rats.

Materials: Thirty (30) male adult Wistar rats weighing 150±20 g – 200±20 g were purchased from Dantom Farms, Swali, Bayelsa State and moved to the animal house of the department of Medical Laboratory Science, Niger Delta University. The animals were assigned into six (6) major groups with five (5) animals in each group after the period of acclimatization: Animals in Group A (Control): received pelleted growers mash (feed) and water. Group B (Positive Control received 0.014 mg of Aluminum Phosphide only. Group C: received 0.014 mg of Aluminum Phosphide and 250g of garlic extract. Group D: received 0.014 mg of Aluminum Phosphide and 500 mg of garlic extract. Group E: received 500 mg of garlic extract, Group F: received 0.6 ml of oil at the end of the treatment, testes of each sacrificed rat was processed for paraffin sectioning and stained with Harris hematoxylin and eosin.

Results: Photomicrograph of testesfor animals in Groups B, C and D shows scanty spermatid which is as a result of spermatogenic arrest, thin basement membrane, abnormal structure of the spermatids and hypertrophy of the seminiferous tubules with diameter of 6.1 cm and 4.5 cm respectively, while animals in Group A,E,F shows a normal histology of the testis with the following features; circular and oval profile, closely packed and uniformly spaced with lumen containing numerous spermatids, with the diameter of seminiferous tubules measuring 2.4 cm – 3 cm.

Conclusion: The present study proves that the oral ingestion of Aluminum Phosphide induces hypertrophyin the testes of rats. However it also shows that the use of garlic (Allium sativum) at various concentrations (250 mg/l and 500 mg/l) has a mild ameliorative role on aluminum phosphide-induced testicular toxicity.