In vitro assessment of reproductive toxicity on rats induced by organic contaminants of source water.

The safety of drinking water attracts more and more attention these years. This study focused on the reproductive toxicity of source water in Jiangsu Province, China. The organic contaminants of source water are capable of bioaccumulating and cause health effects on human beings. The toxicological tests on Spermatogenic cells, Sertoli cells and Leydig cells of male rats showed that source water extracts can reduce testicular cells membrane integrity and depress cell viability significantly. Among these testicular cells, Leydig cells are most sensitive to organic contaminants and the testosterone secretion of Leydig cells is evidently disturbed correspondingly. The phenols in the source water may be chiefly responsible for the reproductive toxicity. These data indicated that chronic reproductive toxicity of source water cannot be overlooked and action should be taken to protect human health from the threat of organic pollution of source water.