Testicular, sperm and haematological toxicity of ridomil and chlorpyriphos in single and combined exposure

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of Ridomil and Chlorpyriphos, singly and in combination, on testes histology, sperm parameters, and haematological indices in male albino rat model. In a completely randomized design, thirty five experimental subjects were constituted into seven equal treatment groups: A (control); CH1 (25 mg of Chlorpyriphos/kg bw); CH2 (50 mg of Chlorpyriphos/kg bw); R1 (25 mg of Ridomil/kg bw); R2 (50 mg of Ridomil/kg bw); COM1 (12.5 mg of Chlorpyriphos/kg bw+12.5 mg of Ridomil/kg bw); and COM2 (25 mg of Chlorpyriphos/kg bw+25 mg of Ridomil/kg bw); which orally received the stated pesticide treatments, thrice a week, at forty eight hour intervals for eight weeks; after which the animals were sacrificed and tissues obtained. Analysis of variance revealed significantly (P<0.05) lower RBC and PCV values in groups CH1 and CH2, as well as in groups COM1 and COM2. Sperm count in group CH2 was significantly lower than in all the other experimental groups. CH1 and CH2 also had the lowest sperm motility values, although not significant. Testes micrographs revealed necrosis, atrophic widely spaced seminiferous tubules with eroded basement membrane in group CH2. Chlorpyriphos alone, as well as the combination of both pesticides (to a lesser extent); demonstrated testicular, sperm, and haemo-toxicity. For the affected parameters, the toxic effects noticed in the pesticides combination groups were not more than that observed due to Chlorpyriphos alone.