Exposure to 2-Bromopropane has been known to cause degeneration of male germ cells. However the mechanism underlying this process is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to determine whether or not the exposure of male Sprague-Dawley rats to 2-BP induces apoptosis in male germ cells. Male rats(N=3 or 4 in each group) were orally administered either with the corn oil vehicle (10 ml/kg body weight) or with 2-BP (3,500 mg/kg) once a day for 3 days. The presence of apoptosis was determined by TUNEL detection in situ and by an increase in DNA fragmentation. A low spontaneous incidence of apoptosis was observed in vehicle control animals, especially in pre-meiotic germ cells of stages I-VI and stages XII-XIV the seminiferous tubules. In 2-BP exposure rats, the incidence of apoptosis markedly increased at 4 h, reached a peak at 8 h (about 7-fold over control), and then decreased rapidly to control level by 48 h after the last administration. Although apoptosis induced by 2-BP occurred in all stages of germ cells, it was most pronounced in spermatogonia and early spermatocytes in stages I-VI and stages XII-XIV. Taken together, our results suggest that apoptosis is involved in the toxicity of testicular germ cells resulting in oligospermia or azoospermia after exposure to 2-BP.