Arsenite is a major environmental chemical induced toxicity and carcinogenicity via the depression of spermatogenesis and androgenesis in males. Humans are exposed to arsenic mainly through ingestion of contaminated water, food and drugs and via inhalation. Sodium alginate is an unbranched copolymers of polysaccharide extracted from brown algae, Colpomenia sp. It was acquired an interested important in biomedical and pharmaceutical industries especially due to their immunostimulatory and antioxidant activities. The current investigation aimed to evaluate the effects of sodium alginate extracted from Colpomenia sp. against the testicular toxicity induced by sodium arsenite in male mice. The testicular animal specimens were prepared for morphometric, histopathology and histochemistry examinations. The present data showed an obvious decrease in the count of primary spermatocytes, fertile seminiferous tubules and epididymal spermatozoa, while the number of abnormal sperms of epididymas was increased after sodium arsenite treatment. Also, the histopathological observations showed a massive degeneration of spermatogenesis and a reduction in both total protein and carbohydrates in the testicular tissues of mice. Otherwise, administration of both sodium arsenite and alginate revealed significant increase in the count of primary spermatocytes, fertile seminiferous tubules and epididymal spermatozoa while the count of sperm abnormalities was decreased. The testicular tissues exhibited an improvement in the spermatogenesis linage. The histochemical study showed a moderate increase of both carbohydrates and protein.
Key words: Brown algae, Sodium arsenite, Histopathology, Histochemistry, Testis, Mice
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