Gholami S, Ansari-Lari M, Khalili L
Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran;
Department of Food Hygiene and Public Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran;
Iran J Vet Res. 2015 Summer;16(3):288-92.
Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) is used to reduce carbon monoxide and ozone in urban air and to boost fuel octane. There is a lack of knowledge in the literature about the histomorphometric changes of the testis following exposure to MTBE. Therefore, this experimental study was performed to determine the effect of oral exposure to MTBE on histologic and histomorphometric changes of testis in adult rat. A total of 25 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five equal experimental groups: control, almond oil and three treatment groups which received 400, 800 and 1600 mg/kg/day MTBE in almond oil by gavages for 30 consecutive days. Histomorphometric analysis showed no significant difference in absolute and relative testis weight, connective tissue thickness, germinal epithelium height, tunica albuginea thickness and Sertoli cell numbers between experimental groups (P>0.05). However, trend analysis showed that the seminiferous tubule diameter increased and interstitial cell numbers as well as spermatocyte and spermatid cell numbers decreased significantly in MTBE treated groups (P<0.05). It may be concluded that MTBE could exert adverse effects on spermatogenic cells in adult rat. Whether the observed changes in the present study are due to the direct effect of MTBE via passing blood-testis barrier or its indirect effect through another mechanism should be elucidated in future studies.
甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）用于减少城市空气中的一氧化碳和臭氧，并提高燃料辛烷值。文献中缺乏关于暴露于MTBE后睾丸组织形态计量学变化的知识。因此，进行本实验研究以确定经口暴露于MTBE对成年大鼠睾丸组织学和组织形态计量学变化的影响。总共25只成年雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠被随机分为五个相等的实验组：对照组、杏仁油组和三个处理组，三个处理组连续30天通过灌胃给予含400、800和1600 mg/kg/天MTBE的杏仁油。组织形态计量学分析显示，实验组之间的绝对和相对睾丸重量、结缔组织厚度、生精上皮高度、白膜厚度和支持细胞数量无显著差异（P>0.05）。然而，趋势分析表明，MTBE处理组的曲细精管直径增加，间质细胞数量以及精母细胞和精子细胞数量显著减少（P<0.05）。可以得出结论，MTBE可能对成年大鼠的生精细胞产生不利影响。本研究中观察到的变化是由于MTBE通过血睾屏障的直接作用还是通过另一种机制的间接作用，应在未来的研究中阐明。
