Aluminium Chloride Exposure Had No Effects on the Epididymis of Wistar Rats

Abstract

Aluminium is a ubiquitous element and one of the trace elements with moderate toxic effect on living organism. It is generally a recognized neurotoxin that is believed to be at the root cause of Alzheimer’s disease and third most abundant element in the earth’s crust after oxygen and silicon. Traditionally, aluminium has been considered as nontoxic to humans. However, in recent years, increased attention is being focussed on possible adverse effect of aluminium on human health. The epididymis is very important in the storage of sperm cell (spermatozoa). This study was conducted in order to evaluate the histological appearance of the epididymis following the oral administration of Aluminium Chloride. Ten wistar rats were used for this study. The wistar rats were divided into five groups as follows: Group I was the control that received distil water only, group II received 475 mg Kg^-1, group III received 950 mg kg^-1, group IV received 1,425 mg kg^-1, group V received 1,900 mg kg^-1 for duration of eight weeks; after which the wistar rats were humanely sacrificed, the epididymis removed and fixed in bouin’s fluid. The epididymis was processed and stained in Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E). The histological observations revealed that there were no significant histological changes (effects) within the control and treated groups. Conclusion: Based on our observations, we therefore conclude that aluminium chloride had no significant effects on the histology of the epididymis and may not be detrimental to the cyto-architecture of the epididymis of wistar rats; therefore, storage of sperm in the epididymis could be safe.