Assessment of fluoride induced male reproductive disorders in adult Wistar rats and its amelioration by supplementation of vitamin C and E

Abstract

Fluoride is necessary for tooth and bone development, but excessive exposure causes different system disorders including male reprotoxic consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent of fluoride toxicities in the male reproductive system and its possible management by vitamin C and E. The study was undertaken to find out the optimum dose of fluoride responsible for causing considerable reprotoxic effects in adult male Wistar rats. The rats were divided into four groups; control (group I) rats received vehicle only and treated rats (group II, III, and IV) were administered sodium fluoride (NaF) orally at 10, 15, and 20 mg/kg/day doses, respectively, for 30 consecutive days. Assessments were done on the following parameters: histoarchitecture of testis and epididymis; spermatozoal potential and DNA integrity; testicular oxidative status, activities of functional marker enzymes and DNA integrity. All these parameters were altered in a dose-dependent manner and based on these; 15 mg/kg/day was selected as the minimum dose responsible for considerable alterations. Further experiments were carried out with this dose. The protective role of VC&VE was assessed on different animal models. Rats were divided into four groups. Group I was the control; Group II received NaF at 15 mg/kg/day dose; Group III was provided with VC (200 mg/kg/day) and VE (400 mg/kg/day) along with NaF; Group IV received only VC&VE for 30 consecutive days. The following studies were undertaken: structure-function integrity of testis, epididymis and spermatozoa; oxidative status of testis and epididymis; testicular functional and steroidogenic status; apoptotic pathway of testis and epididymis; testicular inflammatory status along with spermatozoal apoptotic state. All these parameters were altered due to the fluoride threat. Supplementation with VC&VE restored all the anomalies either to normal or near normal levels. The group IV rats showed a similar pattern of the results to the group I rats.