effect of phosalone on testicular tissue and in vitro fertilizing potential

background: the current study aimed to evaluate the effects of phosalone (pln) as an organophosphate (op) compound on testicular tissue, hormonal alterations and embryo development in rats. materials and methods: in this experimental study, we divided 18 mature wistar rats into three groups-control, control-sham and test (n=6 per group). animals in the test group received one-fourth the lethal dose (ld50) of pln (150 mg/kg), orally, once per day for 45 days. dna laddering and epi-fluorescent analyses were performed to evaluate testicular dna fragmentation and rna damage, respectively. serum levels of testosterone and inhibin-b (in-b) were evaluated. testicular levels of total antioxidant capacity (tac), total thiol molecules (ttm) and glutathione peroxidase (gsh-px) were analyzed. finally, we estimated sperm parameters and effect of pln on embryo development. two-way anova was used for statistical analyses. results: there was severe dna fragmentation and rna damage in testicular tissue of animals that received pln. pln remarkably (p<0.05) decreased testicular tac, ttm and gsh-px levels. animals that received pln exhibited significantly (p<0.05) decreased serum levels of testosterone and in-b. reduced sperm count, viability, motility, chromatin condensation and elevated sperm dna damage were observed in the test group rats. pln resulted in significant (p<0.05) reduction of in vitro fertilizing (ivf) potential and elevated embryonic degeneration. conclusion: pln reduced fertilization potential and embryo development were attributed to a cascade of impacts on the testicles and sperm. pln promoted its impact by elevating dna and rna damages via down-regulation of testicular endocrine activity and antioxidant status.