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  • Prepubertal exposure to ars...
    Couto-Santos, Felipe; Souza, Ana Cláudia Ferreira; Bastos, Daniel Silva Sena; Ervilha, Luiz Otávio Guimarães; Dias, Fernanda Carolina Ribeiro; Araújo, Larissa de Sales; Guimarães, Simone Eliza Facioni; Oliveira, Leandro Licursi de; Machado-Neves, Mariana

    Toxicology and applied pharmacology, 12/2020, Volume: 409
    Journal Article

    Arsenic induces reproductive disorders in pubertal males after prepubertal exposure. However, it is unclear the extent to which those effects remain in testis and epididymis of sexually mature rats after arsenic insult. This study evaluated the effects of prepubertal arsenic exposure in male organs of pubertal rats, and their reversibility in adult rats. Male pups of Wistar rats on postnatal day (PND) 21 were divided into two groups (n = 20/group): Control animals received filtered water and exposed rats received 10 mg L‐−1 arsenic from PND 21 to PND 51. At PND 52, testis and epididymis of ten animals per group were examined for toxic effects under morphological, functional, and molecular approaches. The other animals were kept alive under free arsenic conditions until PND 82, and further analyzed for the same parameters. Pubertal rats overexpressed mRNA levels of SOD1, SOD2, CAT, GSTK1, and MT1 in their testis and SOD1, CAT, and GSTK1 in their epididymis. In those organs, catalase activity was altered, generating byproducts of oxidative stress. The antioxidant gene expression was unchanged in adult rats in contrast to the altered activity of antioxidant enzymes. Histological alterations of testis and epididymis tissues were observed in pubertal and adult rats. Interestingly, only adult rats exhibited a remarkable decrease in serum testosterone levels. Prepubertal exposure to arsenic caused morphological and functional alterations in male reproductive organs of pubertal rats. In adult rats, these damages disappeared, remained, get worsened, or recovered depending on the parameter analyzed, indicating potential male fertility disorders during adulthood. •Rats exposed to arsenic from PND 21 to 51 presented damages in reproductive organs.•Arsenic stimulates overexpression of antioxidant enzyme genes in rat male organs.•Gene expression was not altered in organs of adult rats after arsenic insult.•Prepubertal exposure to arsenic reduced testosterone levels in adult rats.•Pathologies remained present in reproductive tissues of As-exposed rats on PND 82.