Martapura river water leads to testes alteration in rats

Abstract

The Martapura River is the main river in the Banjar district. Local residents use the water for life, even though the river has been polluted. This study aims to analyze changes in testicular morphometry and histology due to drinking water from the Martapura River. A total of 32 male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups (n = 16 per group). The control group was given aquades as drinking water. The treatment group is a group that has been drinking from the water of the Martapura River for 30 days. After euthanasia, the testes were processed and stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Testicular size, number of seminiferous tubules, spermatogonia cells, primary spermatocyte cells, and Leydig cells were analyzed microscopically. Martapura river water significantly induces testicular enlargement (p = 0.0036). In addition, there was a decrease in the number of seminiferous tubules (p < 0.001), spermatogonia cells (p = 0.002), primary spermatocytes cells (p < 0.001), and Leydig cells (p < 0.001) significantly compared to the control group. We conclude that drinking the water from the Martapura River triggers changes in morphometry and histological structure of the testis so that it can disrupt male reproductive function.