Background: Arsenic as an environmental toxicant is able to exert malformation in male reproductive system by inducing oxidative stress. Ascorbic acid with potent antioxidant property is able to restrict oxidative stress. Methods: In this experimental study, NMRI mice were divided into four groups: control, sodium arsenite (7mg/kg), ascorbic acid (150mg/kg) and ascorbic acid + sodium arsenite. Gavage treatments were performed for five weeks. At the end, mice were sacrificed and their right testis were taken out, fixed, processed and stained with heidenhain azan method. For the detection of apoptosis, paraffin-embedded sections were stained with the TUNEL technique using an in situ apoptosis detection kit (Rouch) according to the manufacturer’s protocols. An enzyme based immunoassay (EIA) system was employed to determine testosterone in the plasma samples collected. Data were analyzed using one way ANOVA and means were considered significantly different at P Result: A significant increase in apoptotic cells was found in sodium arsenite group compared to the control ones (p Conclusion: The results indicate that ascorbic acid may be useful in reducing the sodium arseniteinduced toxic effects on reproductive system.
