Effect of a Pyrimethamine-Sulfanilamide Combination on Induced Temporal Infertility in Male Wistar Rats

Abstract

The interaction of a pyrimethamine-sulfanilamide combination on the fertility of reversible infertile effects in male Wistar rats was investigated. Sample groups of rats were administered orally for 49 d based on kilograms of body weight (kgbw) as group I: 1.5 mL corn oil/d; group II: 25 mg/kgbw/d of pyrimethamine; group III: 170 mg/kgbw/d of sulfanilamide; and group IV: 25 and 170 mg/kgbw/d of combined pyrimethamine and sulfanilamide. All groups then had 35 d of drug withdrawal. Males were cohabited with untreated females to diagnose infertility on days 7, 21, 35, and 49 and reversible infertility on days 56, 70, and 84. Males were sacrificed on days 49 and 84, when spermatogram (numbers of spermatids and epididymal spermatozoa, sperm motility, viability of epididymal spermatozoa) and testicular and epididymal histopathology were examined. Male rats showed significant reductions in fertility on days 21, 35 and particularly 49 from the combined treatment, corresponding to significant impairments of spermatogram. Desquamation and multinucleated giant cells in seminiferous tubules as well as hyperplasia, degenerative and cloudy chief cells were observed in the epididymis of rats treated with the combined drugs. Infertility, spermatogram, testicular and epididymal histopathology reversibly became normal by day 35 after drug withdrawal. It was concluded that the combined administration of pyrimethamine and sulfanilamide potentiated temporal infertility effect in male Wistar rats.