Comparative effects of trivalent and hexavalent chromium on spermatogenesis of the mouse

It has been repeatedly stressed that the biological effectiveness of chromium depends entirely on its oxidation state. The present work compares the histological effects of ingested trivalent and hexavalent chromium compounds on the mouse testes. The results showed comparable data of food consumption and gain in body weight. Both compounds produced ambiguous levels of degeneration in the outmost cellular layers of a number of seminiferous tubules, reduced the number of spermatogonia per tubule and the sperm count, and caused significant increases in the percentage of morphologically abnormal sperms. Generally, all these effects were more pronounced in animals which ingested the hexavalent chromium.