Journal of Advanced Biomedical Sciences

Background & objective: Diazinon (DZN) as an environmental pollutant adversely effects reproductive system. This study was done to investigate the effect of DZN on sex hormone serum levels and ovarian histological changes in rats.
Material & Methods: In this study, 40 female Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups including experimental groups 1 and 2 that received 5 and 10 mg/kg diazinon intraperitoneally for 4 weeks respectively. The sham group received olive oil, and the control group received no injection. The animals were anesthetized while proestrus phase and blood samples were collected from the heart and the blood serum sex hormones were measured. by Radioimmunoassay (RIA) method. In addition, ovaries were removed and sections were prepared for histological studies. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan test.
Results: The results showed that the levels of estrogen and progesterone, number of corpus luteum, primordial, primary, growing, Graafian follicles and diameter of oocyte, corpus luteum, theca and granulosa thickness significantly decreased in the experimental groups compared to control group (p<0.001). Also, the number of atretic follicles in the experimental groups significantly increased com­pared to that of the control (p<0.001).
Conclusion: The results indicated that diazinon causes changes in ovarian tissue and reduces the estrogen and progesterone hormones and can have adverse effects on oogenesis.