This study was designed to evaluate the toxic effects of chronic exposure to methotrexate on testicular structure in adult male albino rat judged by light and electron microscope (EM). Group I: served as control group (n = 5) and Group II: injected subcutaneously by methotrexate in a dose of 12.5 microgram /kg body weight (n = 10), which is equally divided into two subgroups; IIa (that were daily for one week) (5rats) and IIb (that were daily for two week) (5 rats). At the end of experimental period, all of the rats were scarified and both testes were prepared for histological and ultrastructural study. In methotrexate one-week treated animals, there were several pathological changes include degenerated seminiferous tubules and distortion in spermatogenic cells. In animals treated with methotrexate for two-weeks, seminiferous tubules showed disorganized spermatogenic cells with reduced number of spermatids. EM evaluation of methotrexate -induced changes revealed significant thickening in basal lamina, structural changes in mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and cytoplasm of Sertoli cell, decrease in number of microtubules of centriole in sperms and loss of the tight junctions due to widening of intracellular space between spermatogenic cells. It could be concluded that exposure to anticancer drugs has a deleterious effect on testicular function as regards spermatogenesis with proved ultrastructural changes. |
