Background: More than 100 species of organic chemicals have been detected in Jialing River of Chongqing City. Most of them are endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which can disrupt the functions of the reproductive and nervous systems.
Methods: Organic extracts (OE) were obtained by solid extraction from the Jialing River, and administrated to rats by gavage every other day for 13 weeks at doses of 2, 12, and 72 L/kg bw/d. Sperm abnormity was analyzed by microscopy and flow cytometry. The Morris water maze task was employed to investigate the behaviors of space probing. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were measured to detect the peroxidation response in hippocampus and testis.
Results: Animals in the 72-L/kg group showed significant degeneration of germ cells in the seminiferous tubule. Sperm abnormality of the 72-L/kg group was significantly higher than that of the solvent control group. The testis oxidative stress in the 72-L/kg group was severer than that of the other groups. The hippocampus neuron cells in the 72-L/kg group showed cellular edema and remarkable cell enlargement. The hippocampus oxidative stress in the 72-L/kg group was severer and the Morris water maze performance in this group showed longer latency time and swimming distance in the probing platform than the other groups.
Conclusions: OE caused pathological damage and peroxidation response to testis and hippocampus and disrupted spermatogenesis and behavior of space probing.