Formaldehyde exposure induces histopathological and morphometric changes in the rat testis

Formaldehyde is a chemical which is traditionally used for fixing cadavers and routine histopathology techniques. It is vaporised during the dissection and practical study of a cadaver. Previous studies have shown that this vapour may cause clinical symptoms such as throat, eye, skin and nasal irritation. This study was designed to determine the histopathology and morphometrics of the rat testis when all the experimental animals were exposed to formaldehyde for 18 weeks. The study was performed in 2004 on 28 albino Wistar rats of 6-7 postnatal weeks. The rats were divided into three case groups (E1: 4 h/d, 4 d/w; E2: 2 h/d, 4 d/w; E3: 2 h/d, 2 d/w) and one control group. The testes specimens were sectioned at 5 &#956;m and stained with the haematoxylin and eosin staining technique for histological and morphometrical studies. We found a severe decrease in germ cells associated with spermatogenesis arrest in the E1 group. A decrease in germ cells and a thickening of the basal membrane of the seminiferous tubules were seen in E2. Displacement of Sertoli and germinal cells were also found in the E3 group. The mean seminiferous tubular diameter and seminiferous epithelial height in the experimental groups were decreased in comparison with the control group and the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). The findings of this study revealed that chronic formaldehyde exposure can cause histopathological and morphometric changes to the seminiferous epithelium in rats and that these changes depend on the duration of the formaldehyde exposure