THE CONSEQUENCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD EXPOSURE ON THE SPERMATOGENESIS PROCESS IN RAT’S TESTES

Abstract

There are factors that adversely affect the health of workers at the modernized enterprises of the metallurgical, chemical, mining industries of the Ukraine. The electromagnetic field is one of the possible harmful factors. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the electromagnetic field of high voltage and low frequency on the genitals of male rats, namely, to determine the number of degenerative forms of spermatozoa forming as a result of mitotic and meiotic disorders at the stage of late spermatids. Male rats in the amount of 50 were exposed to a 750 kV electromagnetic field with a frequency of 50 Hz and a power of 10 kV/m at the "Dnіprovsk" electrical substation in the city of Dnipro. The chambers with animals were located at a distance of 75 m from the surface of the earth. The control group was consisted of 10 rats. Animals were extracted on the 14th, 30th, 45th, 90th, 120th day after the end of the experiment. Histological preparations were made from the blocks, the morphological evaluation of the results of which was carried out on a LEICA CME microscope. Special attention was paid to the evaluation of germ cell polymorphism, since the degeneration of sperm cells is directly related to their modification, which is the result of aberrations of cell differentiation. The percentage of normal and degenerative forms of spermatozoa was calculated per 100 cells. Pathological processes are developed in the testicles of rats in the process of spermatogenesis under the influence of high-voltage EMF of low frequency, that led to the modification and degeneration of spermatozoa due to impaired mitotic and meiotic divisions. Reproductive function in experimental animals declaines. This effect correlates with the “horizontal transfer” of genes, which explains a valid theory in modern evolutionary biology. In the course of the study, it was proved that with an increase in the time of irradiation by the electromagnetic field the number of degenerative cells increased from 20 to 83 %, which was confirmed by statistical confidence. Degenerative forms of spermatozoa looked like cells with double centrioles and double flagella, which is explained by an increase in the DNA content in the heads of germ cells and an imbalance in the apparatus of pressure at the level of chromosomes. The action of the electromagnetic field of high voltage and low frequency in the testicles of rats led to edema of the interstitial tissue due to impaired blood circulation of the organ. Interstitial edema entailed a decrease in the average diameter of the testicular tubules from 0.241 ± 0.063 to 0.232 ± 0.081 mm and a decrease in the total area of spermatogenic tissue, which was also statistically confirmed. The obtained results a negative effect of the indicate electromagnetic field on the morphology of the genital organs of male rats in general and on the process of spermatogenesis in particular.