Sa. Reinecke et Aj. Reinecke, THE INFLUENCE OF LEAD AND MANGANESE ON SPERMATOZOA OF EISENIA-FETIDA (OLIGOCHAETA), Soil biology & biochemistry, 29(3-4), 1997, pp. 737-742
The effects of lead and manganese on the spermatozoan ultrastructure o
f Eisenia fetida were studied by feeding pre-clitellate worms in labor
atory cultures weekly with fresh, urine-free cattle manure containing
sublethal quantities of the heavy metal compounds for 8 weeks. The wor
ms were analysed for heavy metal content after eight weeks, and electr
on microscopical observations of spermatozoa of exposed and control wo
rms were performed. The body loads of heavy metals in the worms at the
end of the observation period were 41.8 mu g g(-1) (0.20 mu mol g(-1)
) and 9.3 mu g g(-1) (0.17 mu mol g(-1)) for Pb and Mn respectively, p
ossibly indicating differential accumulation of the two metals since h
igher dosages of Pb were given. Electron microscopical observations sh
owed marked cellular damage to the spermatozoa from worms exposed to t
he heavy metals, compared to the sperm cells from the control worms. S
tructural damage of spermatozoa included breakage and loss of nuclear
and flagellar membranes, thickening of membranes, malformed acrosomes
and loss of nuclear material. The fact that the spermatozoa were adver
sely affected by sublethal concentrations of certain heavy metals, rai
ses the possibility of utilizing this phenomenon in toxicity testing.
(C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.