Table 2.

Testis weight and testicular morphometric parameters of adult rats treated with two low doses of cadmium (mean ± SDM)

	Control		Cd 1 mg/kg		Cd 1.2 mg/kg
Parameters	7 days	56 days	7 days	56 days	7 days	56 days
Testis (g)	1.68 ± 0.04	1.60 ± 0.10	1.59 ± 0.07	1.69 ± 0.07	0.86 ± 0.08*	0.91 ± 0.16*
GSI	0.88 ± 0.04	0.73 ± 0.03	0.83 ± 0.04	0.78 ± 0.02	0.48 ± 0.05*	0.40 ± 0.06*
Tubular diameter (μm)	292.10 ± 6.30	298.22 ± 6.87	285.71 ± 2.83	295.90 ± 4.01	262.93 ± 13.24	250.92 ± 16.88*
TL/testis (m)	20.70 ± 0.70	19.33 ± 1.95	19.96 ± 1.11	20.70 ± 0.87	10.94 ± 1.86*	10.56 ± 0.91*
TL/g of testis (m)	12.31 ± 0.51	11.94 ± 0.58	12.56 ± 0.25	12.23 ± 0.34	12.40 ± 1.06	13.52 ± 1.66
Seminiferous tubule (%)	85.39 ± 0.73	85.97 ± 0.55	84.15 ± 0.80	87.53 ± 0.36*	71.98 ± 1.24*	65.19 ± 1.61*
Interstitial tissue (%)	14.61 ± 0.73	14.03 ± 0.55	15.85 ± 0.80	12.47 ± 0.36*	28.02 ± 1.24*	34.81 ± 1.61*

GSI, gonadossomatic index; TL, tubular length.

^*Statistically significant differences by Tukey's test (P < 0.05). n = 6 animals.