DETERMINING THE TOXIC EFFECTS OF DIMETHYL ISOPHTHALATE (DMIP) ON THE MOUSE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
Project no. 504 · Status: Kapanmış · 2018
Summary
Phthalates constitute a large class of plasticizer compounds that are widely used for many consumer product applications. More members of the phthalate class of compounds are known to induce male fetal endocrine toxicity and postnatal reproductive malformations by disrupting androgen production during the sexual differentiation period of development. Phthalates are just one of the many classes of chemicals that have been implicated as having estrogenic properties. In this project, the determination of toxic effects on the male reproductive system of Dimethyl isophthalate (DMIP) which has not been studied previously was aimed. Three different concentrations of the DMIP (150 mg/kg, 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg) and a control group (0.1 ml % 0.9 saline per mouse) were designed for the experiment. The DMIP was orally applied for 28 days. At the end of the experiment, testes and cauda epididymis samples were taken from mice. The body weights of animals were showed no significant differences between treatment groups and control. There were no significant differences in the relative weights of testes and cauda epididymis in any of the experimental groups. In histological examinations, DMIP caused a dose-dependent increase in histopathological changes in testes of mice such as degenerations in tubulin seminiferous contortions, edema in some areas of the interstitium, defective tubule and degenerations in spermatogenetic cell lines. Also, in cauda epididymides as increasing doses, there are significant decreases in sperm count and motility also increase in sperm morphology malformations. However, a significant decrease in the serum testosterone levels of the mice was observed due to the dose increase. We can conclude that DMIP has toxic effects on the male reproductive system.