Chlorella Vulgaris Alleviates Lead-induced Testicular Toxicity Better than Zingiber Officinale: An Ultrastructural Study

Natural products are studied to combat reproductive alterations of Lead. The current work aim to disclose the efficacy of Chlorella vulgaris and Zingiber officinale to alleviate lead acetate induced toxicity. Sixty adult male Wistar rats were distributed into four groups. Group 1 was considered control, group 2 received 200 mg/l PbAc water, group 3 received 50 mg/kg/rat of C. vulgaris extract and 200 mg/l PbAc water, and group 4 received 100 mg/kg/rat of Z. officinale and 200 mg/l PbAc water for 90 days. Testis samples were subjected to ultrastructural examination. It is observed that PbAc caused degenerative alterations in the spermatogenic series in many tubules, with a loss of germ cells and vacuoles inside the cytoplasm and between the germ cells. Mitochondria exhibited ballooning, with lost cristae and widening of the interstitial tissue, destructed nuclear envelopes of primary spermatocytes, and distortion of the axonemes of the mid-pieces of the sperms. With the treatment with C. vulgaris or Z. officinale, there were noticeable improvements in those modifications. It has concluded that both C. vulgaris and Z. officinale represent convincing medicinal components that may be used to ameliorate testicular toxicity in those exposed to lead in daily life with superior potentials revealed by C. vulgaris due to its chelating action.