Abstract

Pregnant mice (10 in 4 groups each) were exposed to diazinon (DZN) at 10 and 20 mg/kg on gestation day 6 (GD 6), 9 and 12. A group of 10 pregnant animals was maintained as untreated control. The ovaries were exteriorized on GD 18 by euthanizing the animals. The tissues were processed for histopathological and micrometric analysis. Oocytic nuclear derangements in terms of size increase followed by leakage of nuclear contents with increased duration of exposure were seen. Follicular and luteal cells also showed necrosis. The morphometric data showed significant increase in oocyte and para-follicular size (P_0.0001) along with similar increase in nuclear sizes (P_0.001). These findings indicate that DZN is toxic to bring about histopathological and micrometric derangements in the ovaries of the treated pregnant females.

Key words: Pesticides, diazinon, toxic, gestation, ovaries, micro-anatomical, micrometric, derangements.