Abstract:
Clothianidin (CTD) is a novel, broad-spectrum insecticide. In the current study, it was aimed to
study the effect of subchronic exposure to low doses of CTD (2, 8 and 24 mg/kg body weight/
day) on the reproductive system in adult rats. CTD treatment did not significantly change serum
testosterone level or sperm parameters (e.g. concentration, motility and morphology), but
caused significant decreases in weights of epididymis, right cauda epididymis and seminal
vesicles. CTD treatment did not cause sperm DNA fragmentation and did not change the
apoptotic index in the seminiferous tubules and levels of a-tocopherol and glutathione, but
increased the level of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances and cholesterol levels significantly
at all doses. CTD exposure caused significant elevations in palmitic, linoleic and arachidonic
acids in testis in all CTD-exposed groups. There was a drop in 20:4/18:2 (arachidonic acid/
linoleic acid) ratio and an increase in 18:1n-9/18:0 (oleic acid/stearic acid) ratios in all CTD
groups, in comparison to the control group. In conclusion, CTD had little detectable
detrimental effects on the reproductive system of male rats over the measured parameters.
