α-Tocopherol Prevents Sperm Apoptosis and Necrosis in Rats Exposed to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin

Figure 1

Live and dead sperm of rat exposed to TCDD and treated with α-tocopherol. Rats in the control group (C) were administered 0.5 mL of corn oil twice daily at 4 h intervals for 45 d Rats in groups T0, T1, T2, and T3 were administered TCDD 700 ng/kg BW daily and 4 h later were administered corn oil, 77, 140, and 259 mg/kg BW daily α-tocopherol, respectively, for 45 d Live spermatozoa do not absorb color on the head, whereas dead spermatozoa absorb a red-purple color from the stain (eosin-nigrosin staining), at 400× magnification under a light microscope Nikon E200 (Tokyo, Japan).