Effect of acyclovir on the sperm parameters of albino mice

A number of animal studies as well as human epidemiological studies have demonstrated that exposure of males to various agents could result in abnormal reproductive toxicity. Acyclovir (ACV) is known to be toxic to gonads, but fails to provide the in-depth analyses of timing of damage, the types of germ cells affected, dose and the duration of damage and timing of reversal of fertility. Hence this study on sperm morphology, sperm count and sperm motility. Doses of 4 mg, 16 mg, 32 mg and 48 mg/kg body weight of ACV were administered to 9-12 weeks old male swiss albino mice by intraperitoneal route for 15 days continuously. One hundred and eighty animals were segregated into 30 groups (N=6). Twenty four groups were injected with acyclovir (4 mg, 8 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg/kg body weight) and the rest six groups served as control. After the last treatment, the animals were sacrificed on 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 70 days sample times and the sperm parameters were estimated. ACV causes increased incidence of abnormal sperms on most of the dose ranges from day 21 to 35 indicating the effect on spermatocytes and spermatogonial cells. ACV is cytotoxic to the testis. It causes oligospermia from day 7 to day 35 after the last exposure. It also decreased the sperm motility on same time points. All these effects were reversible by day 70. ACV exerts reversible genotoxic and cytotoxic effect on germ cells. ACV does not affect stem cell lines of spermatogenesis since all sperm parameters return to control level on day 70.