| Melamine is used extensively in plastics, coatings, textiles, kitchen utensils and medicines and as chemical raw materials in many other manufacturing industries. Some studies indicated that main target organ of melamine could cause kidney stones and even renal failure in animals. However, it has not been reported to the effect of melamine on reproductive system of the male mice. To explore the effects of low-dose melamine on the growth and reproduction of male mice, BALB/c mice were divided into four dose groups:1.0mg/kg,2.0mg/kg,4.0mg/kg and control of normal saline (0.0mg/kg). Each dose group used intragastric administration lasted for 35 days. The weights of the mice were measured. The sperm motion parameters were measured by the WLJY-9000 color-detection system of sperm quality. The histology of testicle and sperm deformity were observed and analyzied. The results were showed as follow:1. Detection result showed that the body weight growth in the group of 2.0 mg/kg significantly decreased (P<0.05), and greatly significant declined (P<0.01) in the group of 4.0 mg/kg during the 7-14 infected days.2. There were no significant differences of all sperm motion parameters in the1.0 mg/kg and 2.0 mg/kg groups (P>0.05). Significant decreases in curvilinear velocity, amplitude of lateral head displacement and mean angular deviation in the 4.0 mg/kg group were shown compared with that in the control group (P<0.05).3. No significant changes in ratio of teratospermia were observed in each of the groups (P>0.05), however, there was increasing tendency of teratospermia ratio accompanying with the increase of experimental doses.4. The morphology of all kinds of spermatocyte was all integrated and spermatid and mature sperm decreased in all experimental groups. At the same time, no accrementition and change of inflammation in testiculus tissues were observed.In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that there were no obvious effects on the growth and reproductive toxicity of mice under the lower melamine concentrations in food, but the impact of melamine on fertility of male mice are still needed further study. |
