THE EFFECT OF TOLUENE ON THE RAT OVARY - AN ULTRASTRUCTURAL-STUDY

In this study, eighteen Wistar female albino rats were used to observe the ultrastructural effects of toluene on the rat ovaries. The animal s were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was exposed to 3,000 ppm toluene/m(3) for 7 days and 8 h/day. At the end of the experiment the main ultrastructural findings related t o the oocytes of the antral follicles of the experimental group were: abundant vacuoles, lytic areas, degenerative mitochondria in the oopla sm and blunt microvilli on the surface. Furthermore, the granulosa cel ls revealed prominent degenerative changes such as pyknotic nuclei, mi tochondrial alterations and dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum (E R) cisternae. It was interesting to note that the ultrastructure of pr imordial follicles was almost similar in both experimental and control groups. All these findings suggested that, although toluene did not a ffect the primordial follicles, the growing follicles showed degenerat ive changes attributable to the inhalation of a toxic agent such as to luene.