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The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)

Human impact on the environment is steadily increasing the amounts of aluminum in the ecosystems. This element accumulates in plants and water, potentially exposing herbivores to its harmful effect. In heavily polluted sites, a decrease in the density of small rodent populations has been observed. T...

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Autores principales: Miska-Schramm, Agata, Kapusta, Joanna, Kruczek, Małgorzata
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer US 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371634/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27687699
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0848-3
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author Miska-Schramm, Agata
Kapusta, Joanna
Kruczek, Małgorzata
author_facet Miska-Schramm, Agata
Kapusta, Joanna
Kruczek, Małgorzata
author_sort Miska-Schramm, Agata
collection PubMed
description Human impact on the environment is steadily increasing the amounts of aluminum in the ecosystems. This element accumulates in plants and water, potentially exposing herbivores to its harmful effect. In heavily polluted sites, a decrease in the density of small rodent populations has been observed. This decline may be caused by many factors, including decreased fertility. The aim of the presented research was to determine how aluminum, administered at concentrations similar to those recorded in industrial districts (Al I = 3 mg/l, Al II = 200 mg/l), affects the reproductive abilities of small rodents. As the indicators of reproductive abilities, body weight, weight of the testes and accessory sex glands of males, and uterus weight of females were estimated. In females, the number of matured follicles (types 6, 7, and 8) was analyzed, while in males, the quantity and quality (matured, viable, swollen, motile, head abnormalities) of epididymal sperm cells were assessed. Moreover, the development of testes, measured by spermatogenic index, was determined. The model species was the bank vole. Our results have proven that aluminum impairs adult individuals’ reproductive abilities by decreasing the quality and quantity of sperm cells and by causing morphologically abnormal development of the gonads. However, no difference in male organometric parameters was found, and only in females treated with 3 mg/l Al, the uterus weight was higher than control. No differences were found in the total number of matured follicles. These results suggest that the decline in rodent numbers in industrial districts is due, at least in part, to poorer males’ reproductive abilities, resulting from exposure to aluminum contamination.
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spelling pubmed-53716342017-04-12 The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus) Miska-Schramm, Agata Kapusta, Joanna Kruczek, Małgorzata Biol Trace Elem Res Article Human impact on the environment is steadily increasing the amounts of aluminum in the ecosystems. This element accumulates in plants and water, potentially exposing herbivores to its harmful effect. In heavily polluted sites, a decrease in the density of small rodent populations has been observed. This decline may be caused by many factors, including decreased fertility. The aim of the presented research was to determine how aluminum, administered at concentrations similar to those recorded in industrial districts (Al I = 3 mg/l, Al II = 200 mg/l), affects the reproductive abilities of small rodents. As the indicators of reproductive abilities, body weight, weight of the testes and accessory sex glands of males, and uterus weight of females were estimated. In females, the number of matured follicles (types 6, 7, and 8) was analyzed, while in males, the quantity and quality (matured, viable, swollen, motile, head abnormalities) of epididymal sperm cells were assessed. Moreover, the development of testes, measured by spermatogenic index, was determined. The model species was the bank vole. Our results have proven that aluminum impairs adult individuals’ reproductive abilities by decreasing the quality and quantity of sperm cells and by causing morphologically abnormal development of the gonads. However, no difference in male organometric parameters was found, and only in females treated with 3 mg/l Al, the uterus weight was higher than control. No differences were found in the total number of matured follicles. These results suggest that the decline in rodent numbers in industrial districts is due, at least in part, to poorer males’ reproductive abilities, resulting from exposure to aluminum contamination. Springer US 2016-09-29 2017 /pmc/articles/PMC5371634/ /pubmed/27687699 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0848-3 Text en © The Author(s) 2016 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Article
Miska-Schramm, Agata
Kapusta, Joanna
Kruczek, Małgorzata
The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title_full The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title_fullStr The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title_full_unstemmed The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title_short The Effect of Aluminum Exposure on Reproductive Ability in the Bank Vole (Myodes glareolus)
title_sort effect of aluminum exposure on reproductive ability in the bank vole (myodes glareolus)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5371634/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27687699
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12011-016-0848-3
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