Figure 3.

Photomicrographs of testicular sections from control and of mice exposed to cadmium chloride (CdCl₂). On (B), sections show the tubular compartment composed of a seminiferous epithelium (SE) and lumen (L) and an intertubular compartment (IC) analyzed under light microscopy with toluidine blue. Arrows: vacuolated germinal epithelium (mild pathology); stars: degenerate seminiferous tubules (severe pathology). On (B), sections of seminiferous epithelium analyzed under epifluorescence microscopy using the fluorochrome dye acridine orange (AO; green) and propidium iodide (PI; red). Viable cells (green) and nonviable cells with initial damage (orange) and positive propidium iodide cells (red). Control: distilled water; intraperitoneal SD: CdCl₂ intraperitoneal single dose; oral SD: CdCl₂ oral single dose; oral FD: CdCl₂ oral fractionated dose; SE: seminiferous epithelium; L: lumen; IC: intertubular compartment. Bars = 60 μm.