Sub-Acute Toxicity of Heptachlor At Low Dose Exposure in Wistar Rats

Objective: The present study was undertaken to study the effect of low dose exposure of heptachlor on hae- matological values, biochemical profile, reproductive system and pathological changes in some vital organs in male rats. Methods: The present study was conducted on 30 adult healthy male wistar rats. 30 male rats were randomly divided into five groups. Each group consisted of 6 male rats. Heptachlor solution (1 mg/ml) was diluted in methanol to prepare formulation of 1, 2.5 and 5 ppm for oral administration. Blood samples were collected at day 0 (before drug administration) and on day 28 for haematological and serum biochemical analysis. All the animals were sacrificed humanly on day 29 and post mortem examination was performed in the confined disinfected laboratory to determine the presence or absence of gross and histopathological lesions. Results: The result of haematological, biochemical evaluation, semen analysis and histopathological examination of tissues reveled that low dose exposure of heptachlor to male rats for 28 days has little detrimental effects on biochemical profile of animals treated with 5 ppm of heptachlor. However, heptachlor exposure at high dose (5 ppm) did not have any detrimental effect on parameters of male reproductive system of rats.