A sensitive sperm-motility test for the assessment of cytotoxic effect of pesticides.
A sensitive sperm-motility test for the evaluation of cytotoxic effects of carbofuran and glyphosate in a defined protein-free culture medium is described. The sperm motility was compared to that obtained with a protein-containing medium. The use of protein-free medium considerably increased the sensitivity of sperm cells from rabbit and human to the toxic effects of the pesticide. The respective IC50 values (the concentration needed to cause 50% inhibition of sperm motility) in protein-free medium of carbofuran and glyphosate were 321 and 48.2 microM with human sperm, and 116 and 23.5 microM with rabbit sperm. Whereas, the corresponding values in protein-containing medium were 920 and 740 microM, and 910 and 500 microM with human and rabbit sperm, respectively. Our results show that testing human and rabbit sperm in protein-free medium proves to be a more sensitive method than that in protein-containing medium. Additionally, the use of rabbit sperm is a more sensitive test system than human sperm. This study suggests that the rabbit sperm test appears to have a potential for the assessment of toxicity on human reproduction.
Yousef
M I
MI
Department of Environmental Studies, Alexandria University, Egypt.
Bertheussen
K
K
Ibrahim
H Z
HZ
Helmi
S
S
Seehy
M A
MA
Salem
M H
MH
D000818:Animals; D002235:Carbofuran / Q000633:toxicity*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003470:Culture Media; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005998:Glycine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000633:toxicity; D006540:Herbicides / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D007306:Insecticides / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013081:Sperm Motility / Q000187:drug effects*; D000097797:Glyphosate
D002235:Carbofuran; D003470:Culture Media; D005998:Glycine; D006540:Herbicides; D007306:Insecticides; D000097797:Glyphosate