Morphologic changes in mouse spermatozoa after exposure to inhalational anesthetics during early spermatogenesis

The authors studied anesthetic mutagenesis following exposure in vivo by use of an adaptation of the mouse spermatozoa morphology assay of Wyrobek and Bruce. The epididymal spermatozoa of (C57B1/C3H)F1 mice were examined for morphologic abnormalities following exposure to near-0.1 MAC and greater concentrations of general anesthetics. Twenty exposure hours (4 hr/day x 5 days) were conducted for nitrous oxide, diethyl ether, chloroform, trichlorethylene, halothane, methoxyflurane, enflurane, and isoflurane, each at two concentrations. Twenty-eight days after exposure, epididymal spermatozoa were examined. Statistically significant increases in the percentages of abnormal spermatozoa were found for chloroform, trichloroethylene, and enflurane, compared with controls. These data suggest that direct examination of reproductive cells following exposure to general anesthetics in vivo may be useful in the investigation of the genetic toxicities of these compounds.