A side effect of cyclophosphamide (CP), an alkylating agent widely used to treat tumors and autoimmune disorders is the alteration of male reproductive function. CP is extremely dangerous to the germinal epithelium and damage to spermatogenesis. High doses can cause azoospermia which can result infertility in humans. This study is focused on the evaluation of toxicological effect of cyclophosphamide on male rat testis and the possible reversibility of these toxic effects. Thirty adult male rats were divided into three groups: vehicle-treated (control), CP-treated and rehabilitated groups. CP was administrated intraperitoneally (100mg/kg/week) for five successive weeks, and semithin sections from testicular tissue were prepared and examined after last injection (treated group) and six weeks later (rehabilitated group). A quantitative morphometric study and statistical analysis were applied for accurate and efficient assessment of spermatogenic impairment induced by CP. The CP treated group showed various morphological alterations in the testis such as reduction in the size and distortion in the shape of the seminiferous tubules with degeneration and vacuolation in spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids associated with marked interstitial oedema. In addition, the CP induced significant decreases in volume proportion, diameter and epithelial height of the seminiferous tubules together with a significant reduction in the number of different germ cells in the treated animals. Interestingly, spermatogonia A appeared to be target cells for the damaging effect of CP in the testis that presented severe degenerative changes in structure along with significant reduction in number in the treated group animals. Furthermore, the number of primary spermatocytes and round spermatids decreased significantly in CP- treated group. The Sertoli and Leydig cells, however, appeared to be less affected to CP toxicity; exhibiting insignificant decrease in number as well as less morphological alterations. The Interstitial spaces of treated group animals showed a highly significant increase in its volume proportion, when compared to the control animals. Meanwhile, the rehabilitated group showed significant increases for aforementioned variables in comparison to the CP- treated group, associated with reversal of morphological changes towards normalcy. Based on the results from the present study it is concluded that the morphological alterations induced by CP toxicity were further substantiated by morphometric findings in the testicular tissue of rat. A direct toxicity of CP to the number and quality of spermatogenic compartment may be considered as one of the mechanisms of action of CP in producing the abnormal and dead sperms that alter fertility. By the reversal of morphological and stereological changes towards normalcy, the role of rehabilitation is illuminated in CP induced testicular damage.

A side effect of cyclophosphamide (CP), an alkylating agent widely used to treat tumors and autoimmune disorders is the alteration of male reproductive function. CP is extremely dangerous to the germinal epithelium and damage to spermatogenesis. High doses can cause azoospermia which can result infertility in humans. This study is focused on the evaluation of toxicological effect of cyclophosphamide on male rat testis and the possible reversibility of these toxic effects. Thirty adult male rats were divided into three groups: vehicle-treated (control), CP-treated and rehabilitated groups. CP was administrated intraperitoneally (100mg/kg/week) for five successive weeks, and semithin sections from testicular tissue were prepared and examined after last injection (treated group) and six weeks later (rehabilitated group). A quantitative morphometric study and statistical analysis were applied for accurate and efficient assessment of spermatogenic impairment induced by CP. The CP treated group showed various morphological alterations in the testis such as reduction in the size and distortion in the shape of the seminiferous tubules with degeneration and vacuolation in spermatogonia, spermatocytes and spermatids associated with marked interstitial oedema. In addition, the CP induced significant decreases in volume proportion, diameter and epithelial height of the seminiferous tubules together with a significant reduction in the number of different germ cells in the treated animals. Interestingly, spermatogonia A appeared to be target cells for the damaging effect of CP in the testis that presented severe degenerative changes in structure along with significant reduction in number in the treated group animals. Furthermore, the number of primary spermatocytes and round spermatids decreased significantly in CP- treated group. The Sertoli and Leydig cells, however, appeared to be less affected to CP toxicity; exhibiting insignificant decrease in number as well as less morphological alterations. The Interstitial spaces of treated group animals showed a highly significant increase in its volume proportion, when compared to the control animals. Meanwhile, the rehabilitated group showed significant increases for aforementioned variables in comparison to the CP- treated group, associated with reversal of morphological changes towards normalcy. Based on the results from the present study it is concluded that the morphological alterations induced by CP toxicity were further substantiated by morphometric findings in the testicular tissue of rat. A direct toxicity of CP to the number and quality of spermatogenic compartment may be considered as one of the mechanisms of action of CP in producing the abnormal and dead sperms that alter fertility. By the reversal of morphological and stereological changes towards normalcy, the role of rehabilitation is illuminated in CP induced testicular damage.

Ossimi is the most abumdant breed of sheep in Egypt. As compared with other sheep, the age of puberty and reproductive capacity of this local breed received little attention. For both purposes, gonadal and epididymal sperm counts were studied in 48 healthy slaughtered growing Ossimi ram lambs. Animals were classified into 8 equal age groups (6, 7, 8, 12, 15, 18, 24 and >24 month). Testis and epididymis (caput, corpus and cauda) of one side were dissected and weighed separately. The whole testis and each region of epididymis were cut seperately into small pieces then homogenized with known volumes of saline using an electro mixer. To 5 ml of each homogenate, 3 drops sodium hydroxide (2%) and 2 drops eosin solution (3%) were added and gently mixed. Stained sperm heads, without elongated spermatids, were counted twice with a cytometer. At 6 months, no sperm could be detected from any organ while at 7 months 2 cases had sperm in their testes only. In both cases testicular weight, sperm per g tissue and total sperm per gonad averaged 48.5 g, 23.6 x106 and 1.14 x109 sperm respectively. At 8 months, sperm were detected from all testes and epididymes. At this age, testis weighed 51.3±1.8 g, while sperm count per g tissue and per organ were 26.1±4.2x106 and 1.34±0.23 x109 respectively. Moreove, total sperm count in epididymis was 1.64±0.19x109. After this age, testes and their total sperm counts showed significant increases (P0.01) until 24 months. However, number of sperm per g tissue was maximum at earlier age (15 months) and reached 90.2±7.9x109. Epididymis (weight and total sperm) developed slowly from 7 to 12 months then rapidly until 24 months. Each region of epididymis grew independently. Ratios of caput and corpus weights to whole epididymis were 41.3% and 20% respectively at 8 months. These ratios decreased to 39.7% and 13.6% at 18 months, respectively. Ratios recorded for cauda increased from 38.7% to 46.7% at the same ages, respectively. There were similar trends for sperm counts. At 24 months, cauda contained 45.15±7.9 x109 sperm representing 80.7% of total epididymal sperm. Significant correlations (P0.01) were present between testis-epididymis weights and their sperm counts. It is evident that Ossimi ram lambs reached puberty at 7-8 months of age while maximum reproductive capacity attained at 2 years. Data obtained might be of value in rams selected for breeding especially with regard to evaluate the size of testes and cauda epididymedes

Trichinellosis is one of the most widespread zoonotic parasitic diseases of animals and man allover the world. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of Trichinella spiralis among pigs and humans in Assiut and Sohag Governorates in Upper Egypt. Trichinellosis was detected in 4.0% of the examined pigs with a prevalence rate of 5.0% and 2.0% in Assiut and Sohage Governorates, respectively. Male pigs were more susceptible (4.8%) than females (2.2%). There was a reverse relationship between the age of pigs and the occurrence of Trichinellosis. Diagnosis of Trichinella spiralis by digestion technique (4.0%) showed to be more sensitive than trichinoscope (3.33%) examination. Incidence of Trichinellosis in human was 60.8% with a rate of 67.7% % in Assiut Governorate and 46.7% in Sohage Governorate by using ELISA. There was a reverse relationship between the patient's age and the occurrence of Trichinellosis. Higher occurrence of Trichinellosis was detected in female patients (61.8%) than males (56.3%).

Trichinellosis is one of the most widespread zoonotic parasitic diseases of animals and man allover the world. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of Trichinella spiralis among pigs and humans in Assiut and Sohag Governorates in Upper Egypt. Trichinellosis was detected in 4.0% of the examined pigs with a prevalence rate of 5.0% and 2.0% in Assiut and Sohage Governorates, respectively. Male pigs were more susceptible (4.8%) than females (2.2%). There was a reverse relationship between the age of pigs and the occurrence of Trichinellosis. Diagnosis of Trichinella spiralis by digestion technique (4.0%) showed to be more sensitive than trichinoscope (3.33%) examination. Incidence of Trichinellosis in human was 60.8% with a rate of 67.7% % in Assiut Governorate and 46.7% in Sohage Governorate by using ELISA. There was a reverse relationship between the patient's age and the occurrence of Trichinellosis. Higher occurrence of Trichinellosis was detected in female patients (61.8%) than males (56.3%).

Reticular or lattice-like perineuronal coatings of condensed extracellular matrix (ECM), termed perineuronal nets (PNs), enriched in proteoglycans (PGs) and/or glycoproteins (GPs) were demonstrated to ensheath cell surfaces of certain neuronal circuits in the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals, reptiles and fishes. In the present study, the histochemical and quantitative characteristics of postnatal ECM in the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) of albino rats were described with a cationic iron colloid (CIC) or with CIC-Bodian's technique for detection of sulfated PGs and with certain plant lectins from Vicia villosa agglutinin (VVA), Wisteria floribunda agglutinin (WFA) or Glycine max agglutinin (SBA) for demonstration of N-acetylgalactosamine containing GPs. The differentiating PNs were shown to make their development as early as 1-2 weeks postnatally (Pw1-2), which surround the surface of some neurons distributing throughout the II-V cortical layers. During the first postnatal month and onwards, the net-encapsulated neuronal cells underwent progressive increment in number and presented an inside-out pattern of migration and differentiation throughout the V-II cortical layers. At a later stage (Pw6-8), the overall density and intensity of labeled PNs progressively increased and reached the adult stage of development. In addition, they displayed their differential labeling characteristics for the lectin/CIC double staining, which were differentially identified into three types, namely; PGs-, GPs-, and PGs/GPs coats. The morphometric investigation revealed that the total density of net-associated retrosplenial neurons (RSNs) at Pw2 was about 1.80±0.29 /UA (UA = 60.15 µm2) after labeling with the WFA/CIC double staining technique, and this variant increased polynomially with progression of postnatal age reaching 9.12±1.82 /UA at Pw12. Quantitative analysis showed that the gain of net-associated RSNs increased rapidly during the first postnatal month (2.86 fold), and then increased 1.73 fold during the second month, but increased 1.02 fold at the third month. Statistical analysis revealed that throughout the postnatal period, the numerical density of net-associated RSNs increased significantly with advance of age (R = +0.992; P0.01). In addition, the numerical densities of PGs- and GPs-coated neurons, as well as those exhibiting coat complexes (PGs/GPs coats), increased polynomially with progression of animal age (R = +0.996, +0.990 and +0.976, respectively with P 0.01 in all parameters). At Pw2, the absolute numerical density of RSNs labeled with VVA, WFA, SBA, CIC and CIC-Bodian's staining measured about 2.12±0.17, 1.80±0.13, 0.00, 0.00 and 3.00±0.18 /UA, respectively. These parameters increased significantly with postnatal age and respectively reached 6.18±1.23, 5.00±1.03, 2.90±0.69, 3.85±0.76 and 4.30±1.13 /UA at Pw12 (R = +0.995, +0.995, +0.997, +0.996 and 0.984 with P0.01 for all parameters). In addition, labeling indices of RSNs stained with the aforementioned staining at Pw2 was 3.60, 2.94, 0.00, 0.00 and 3.52, respectively. These variants increased significantly with advance of animal age reaching 15.84, 12.82, 7.43, 9.87 and 11.02, respectively (R = +0.994, +0.997, +0.998, +0.996 and +0.999 and P 0.01 for all variants). This finding indicated that the perineuronal ECM components are significantly correlated with age and suggest a possible developmental and biological significance including promotion of migration and functional maturation of net-associated neurons in the RSC. In addition, the finding of present study would be contributed as baseline for future experimental or environmental studies that are expandable for other mammalian species including the human.

This experiment was performed to evaluate the protective effect of curcumin on N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) and carbon tetrachloride induced hepatocarcinogenesis. Forty male rats were divided into four groups. In group A, fifteen rats were received a single i.p. injection of NDEA (200 mg/ kg body weight). After one week, rats were received weekly s.c. injections of carbon tetrachloride (3 ml/ kg body weight /week) for 6 weeks. In group B, fifteen rats were received diet containing 0.2% curcumin two weeks before the injection of NDEA and carbon tetrachloride and continued throughout the experimental period (20 weeks). In group D, five rats were received diet containing 0.2% curcumin for the whole period of the experiment. In group E, five rats served as control. Specimens from liver were taken for histopathological examination. The results of this experiment suggest that curcumin exerts a protective effect against N-nitrosodiethylamine and carbon tetrachloride induced hepatocarcinogenesis.

In this study, lesions of chronic toxicity induced by 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in male Sprague-Dawley rats was investigated. 2,4-D (30 mg/kg b.wt. in 0.5 ml saline daily) was given orally to male rats for six months. Histopathological examinations of tissue specimens revealed that liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, testicles, epididymis and brain were seriously affected after 2,4-D exposure. Liver showed vascular and hepatocellular changes. The hepatocellular changes were varied from necrobiotic changes to preneoplastic changes. Lesions in the kidneys consisted of glomerular swelling, glomerulonephritis and hyperplasia of the renal tubular epithelium. Lungs showed necrosis and sloughing of bronchiolar epithelial lining and heavy infiltration with lymphocytes. The heart exhibited hemorrhage and degeneration in the cardiac muscle. Necrotic orchitis and epididymitis were demonstrated. Hyperemia, edema, neuronal degeneration of ischemic type was observed in the brain. In conclusion, 2,4-D induced deleterious pathological effects on vital organs including preneoplastic changes in the liver.