Study On Reproductive And Immune Toxicity Of Male Mice Exposed To Ethephon

Ethephon is a kind of plant growth regulator pesticide. It is mainly used to promote thefruits and vegetables ripening, and it plays an important role in transporting and storing somekind of fruits. At present ethephon is commonly used in agriculture such as for the ripen fruitquickly in fruits and vegetables. In order to obtain greater economic benefits, some peopleuse ethephon excessively. Resistance evolution followed with the intense use of ethephon.Human and mammals may be exposed to ethephon residues by agricultural practices. Thepotential adverse effect of reproduction and development on human health caused greatconcern.It reports that ethephon can cause sperm abnormality increased and could negativelyaffect the immune system of mice. So the present paper do the detail research in thereproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity in mice caused by ethephon.【Objective】To explore the reproductive toxicity and immunotoxicity in male mice caused byethephon. It provides a new clues to study the detail research of the toxic effect and themechanism caused by ethephon.【Methods】1、Male mice were divided into four groups, control (0mg/kg), low (85mg/kg), moderate(170mg/kg) and high (340mg/kg) dose groups in the test. Male mice were treated withethephon by gavage, once a day for14consecutive days.15days after the first gavage, themale mice were mated with female mice in1:1ratios. The pregnancy rate and the quantity oftheir offspring were observed on day21after the first mating. The epididymis and testis were collected28days after the first gavage. The effect of ethephon on sperm quality in mice wereanalysed, and FCM was used to study cell cycle progression of spermatogenic cells.2、Forty SPF health adult Kunming male mice were divided into four groups，control (0mg/kg), low (85mg/kg), moderate (170mg/kg) and high (340mg/kg) dose groups in the test.The mice were treated with ethephon by gavage（20ml/kg body weight）, once a day for14consecutive days. The blood, the thymus and spleen were collected28days after the firstgavage. Effect of ethephon on haematological indexes and cell cycle of peripheral bloodlymphocyte in mice were tested. FCM was used to study the cell cycle progression of thymusand spleen cells，and to observe the percentage of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+lymphocytes of spleenand the percentage of CD4+, CD8+lymphocytes of thymus.【Results】1、Effects of ethephon on the reproductive system in mice Compared with thecontrol group, the weight of the male mice of moderate and high dose groups decreased(P<0.05), the pregnancy rate of the female mice and the weight of seminal vesicle and spermcount of high dose group decreased (P<0.05), sperm motility decreased (P<0.05), and spermabnormality increased(P<0.05). Mice testicular tissue of moderate and high dose groupsshowed obviously abnormal in pathology test. The cell cycle progression of spermatogeniccells of moderate and high dose groups were blocked.2、Effect of ethephon on cell cycle of peripheral blood lymphocyte in male miceCompared with the control group, along with the increasing of ethephon exposed dose,mouse red blood cell count (RBC), white blood cell count (WBC), lymphocyte count (LYM),platelet count (PLT) and hemoglobin (HGB), neutrophil (NEU) content and percentage oflymphocytes (LYM%) were not changed, and the cell cycle progression of mice peripheralblood lymphocyte were not blocked.3、Effect of ethephon on cell cycle and lymphocyte subsets of spleen and thymus inmale mice The cell cycle progression of immunocyte cells of mice spleen and thymuswere blocked along with the increasing of ethephon exposed dose. Compared with the controlgroup，the number of CD3+T cell of the mice spleen of high dose groups increased（P<0.05）,the number of CD8+T cell of the mice thymus increased（P<0.05）, the number of CD4+/CD8+ ratio of the mice thymus decreased （P<0.05）, the number of CD4+T cell of the micethymus of moderate and high dose groups increased（P<0.05）.【Conclusion】1、The study suggests that ethephon could negatively affect the reproduction of malemice.2、The cell cycle progression of spermatogenic cells of moderate and high dose groupswere blocked, and promote the apoptosis of spermatogenic cells in testis.3、The study suggests that ethephon could not affect the haematological indexes in mice,and inadequately results in the change of cell cycle of peripheral blood lymphocyte.4、The study suggests that ethephon could affect the immunological cell percentage ofthymus and spleen in mice, and could block the process of immunocyte cell cycle.