ORIGINAL ARTICLE 1100 P J M H S Vol. 10, NO. 4, OCT – DEC 2016 Histology of Rabbit’s Testes as Influenced by Municipal Waste Water AMIR AMANULLAH 1 , USMAN ULLAH 1 , SHEHLA AMAN 1 FIDAULLAH WAZIR 2 ABSTRACT Relative effect of different concentrations of municipal wastewater i.e., (1) tape water (control), (2) 50% concentration of municipal wastewater and (3) 100% concentration of municipal wastewater on histology of rabbit’s testes was studied at the Animal House of Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan during the year 2013-14. The study was laid out in randomized control trail (RCT). Sixty male rabbits classified into three groups A, B and C and each group further subdivided into two subgroups viz., A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 respectively. Group A1, B1, C1 was treated for 30 days whereas group A2, B2, C2 was treated for 60 days with tape water, 50% and 100& concentrations of municipal wastewater respectively. Data was recorded on various morphological and microscopic parameters viz; degenerative cells in the lumen, sertoli cells count, leydig cells/HPF, cell count/tubule, degenerative changes in epithelium and vacuolization. Results revealed highly significant (P≤ 0.01) differences among various concentrations of municipal wastewater for all the studied traits in comparison to control (tape water) whereas the duration of treatments were found to be statistically at par with each other. Maximum cell counts/tubule, leydig cells count and sertoli cells count was recorded in control and decreased steeply with an increase in municipal wastewater concentration. Similarly maximum degenerative changes in epithelium, degenerative changes in lumen and intraepithelial vacuolization were observed in 100% concentration of municipal wastewater. The instant results suggest that municipal wastewater adversely affects the testicular histology. Keywords: Municipal wastewater, spermatogenesis, histology, rabbit’s testes INTRODUCTION Water is the basic requirement for the entire living organism of the biosphere. 1 Human being are using the water systems for various purposes such as drinking, irrigation, fisheries, industrial processes, transportation and waste disposal. In the ecosystem, the environmental contamination of water has become a global threat to the existence of different plants and animals 2 . Sewage pollutants consists of organic and inorganic substances, pathogens, plant nutrients, radioactive materials, sediments, oxygen demanding wastes, heat and oil 3 . In polluted waters the main impurities are plant nutrients and organic materials, but disease causing microbes are very likely to be present in the domestic sewage also 4,5 . Various heavy metals like Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg & Se get their way into the water from different sources including industries, automobiles, exhaust, mines and even from natural soils 6,7 . Crop and plants that are grown in contaminated soils or irrigated with municipal wastewater when consumed, can result in health concerns such as diarrhea, mental retardation, liver and kidney damage and even might cause death 8,9,10 . These heavy metals after the ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Deptt of Anatomy, Gomal Medical College, Dera Ismail Khan, 2 Deptt of Anatomy, Pak. International Medical College Hayat Abad, Correspondence to Dr. Amir Amanullah, Associate Professor, Email; amiramanullahkhan@yahoo.com Cell 03219011023 administration, might react with different biomolecules which might harmfully affect the reproductive, nervous, gastrointestinal, immune, renal, cardiovascular, skeletal, muscular and hematopoietic systems as well as developmental processes 11 . These toxic heavy metals can induce impairment in different systems like blood and cardiovascular system, detoxification pathways of color, skin and liver, endocrine system, energy production pathways, enzymatic and urinary system 12 . Various plants accumulate various amount of these heavy metals and the accumulation mainly depends upon the plant biomass. These heavy metals are mostly accumulated by leafy vegetables 13 . These heavy metals when ingested, might retard the hydrolysis. It may also interfere with the enzyme action by changing the metal ions from metaloenzymes. Similarly it might affect the male reproductive system which is a global health concern. 14 Different studies have been carried out on male reproductive system using careless and excessive use of heavy metals showed a disturbing trend. Previous studies also showed an increase in abnormal sperm frequencies and decrease in total sperm count in subjects exposed to heavy metals 15,16,17,18 .