To study the effects of atrazine on reproductive functions and testicular and epididymal antioxidant defense, rats were exposed to 0, 120, or 200 mg/kg body weight atrazine orally for 7 and 16 days. ...Animals exposed to the high-dose atrazine had their body weights, feed intake, and reproductive organs weights significantly reduced, whereas testicular weights remain unaffected independent of the dose used. In comparison to control, glutathione (GSH) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) activities were elevated in the high-dose group, whereas the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT); ascorbate (AA), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and hydrogen peroxide production were unchanged in the testis during the 7-day-exposure protocol. When atrazine treatment was increased to 16 days, GSH levels remained unchanged, but lipid peroxidation levels were significantly increased in both the testes and epididymides. This corresponded to the significant diminution in the activities of GST and SOD. CAT activities were unaffected in the testes and then dropped in the epididymides. γ-Glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) activities increased during both studies, whereas AA levels remained unaffected (p < 0.05). Atrazine exposure has a dose-dependent adverse effect on the testicular and epididymal sperm numbers, motility, viability, morphology, and daily sperm production. Although the testes of the atrazine-treated animals appear normal, few tubules had mild degeneration with the presence of defoliated cells. Likewise, no perceptible morphological changes were observed in the epididymis. The results suggest that atrazine impairs reproductive function and elicits a depletion of the antioxidant defense system in the testis and epididymis, indicating the induction of oxidative stress.
: The present study was carried out to evaluate the ameliorative effects of kolaviron (a biflavonoid from the seeds of Garcinia kola) and curcumin (from the rhizome, Curcuma longa L.) on the ...di‐n‐butylphthalate (DBP)‐induced testicular damage in rats. Administration of DBP to rats at a dose of 2 g/kg for 9 days significantly decreased the relative testicular weights compared to the controls, while the weights of other organs remained unaffected. Curcumin or kolaviron did not affect all the organ weights of the animals. While only DBP treatment significantly increased the testicular malondialdehyde level and gamma‐glutamyl transferase activity (γ‐GT), it markedly decreased glutathione level, the testicular catalase, glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase, superoxide dismutase, sperm γ‐GT activities and serum testosterone level compared to the control group. Data on cauda epididymal sperm count and live/dead ratio were not significantly affected in the DBP‐treated rats. Alone, DBP treatment resulted in a 66% decrease in spermatozoa motility and a 77% increase in abnormal spermatozoa in comparison to control. DBP‐treated rats showed marked degeneration of the seminiferous tubules with necrosis and defoliation of spermatocytes. The DBP‐induced injuries in biochemical, spermatological parameters and histological structure of testis were recovered by treatment with kolaviron or curcumin. The pattern in the behaviour of these compounds might be correlated with their structural variations. Our results indicate that kolaviron and curcumin protect against testicular oxidative damage induced by DBP. The chemoprotective effects of these compounds may be due to their intrinsic antioxidant properties and as such may prove useful in combating phthalate‐induced reproductive toxicity.
Tetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic employed clinically in the treatment of bacteria infections, is known to cause a number of biochemical dysfunctions and suspected to induce testicular damage ...to animals and humans, but there is paucity of data on its effect and mechanism of action on the male reproductive system. The present study therefore evaluates its spermatotoxic and testicular toxicity in male rats and the chemoprotective effects of Vitamin C (Vit C) and
N-acetylcysteine (NAC).
Tetracycline was administered orally at the dose level of 28.6
mg/kg body weight per day in two equal divided doses (12
h interval). Vit C and NAC were also administered orally to the rats at doses of 200 and 50
mg/kg body weight per day, respectively, for the 14 days of the experiment. While there was no change in the body weights of rats, tetracycline administration caused significant decrease in the relative weights of testis, epididymis and seminal vesicles (
P<0.05).
Administration of tetracycline caused a reduction in the epididymal sperm motility, percentage of live spermatozoa, sperm count, and an increase in abnormal sperm morphology, as well as induction of adverse histopathologic changes in the testes. While Vit C and NAC significantly mitigated the toxic effect of tetracycline on sperm parameters, the antioxidants did not improve the adverse histopathologic changes induced by antibiotic.
Treatment of rats with tetracycline significantly decreased the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase (CAT), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and the levels of GSH and serum testosterone, while the activity of
γ -glutamyltranspeptidase and the formation of malondialdehyde (MDA) increased. Both Vit C and NAC significantly attenuated the toxic effects of tetracycline to the antioxidant and testicular marker enzymes as well as markers of oxidative stress.
Collectively, the results suggest that therapeutic dose of tetracycline elicits spermatotoxic and testicular toxicity in male rats through induction of oxidative stress. The chemoprotective effects of Vit C and NAC during tetracycline treatment suggest that these antioxidants may find clinical application in cellular damage involving reactive oxygen species (ROS).
The present study evaluated the possible protective effects of selenium against atrazine-induced toxicity in the liver and reproductive system of rats. Atrazine administered to rats orally at a dose ...of 120
mg/kg caused an inhibition in the activity of glutathione-S-transferase and an increase in malondialdehyde formation in the liver, testis and epididymis. Superoxide dismutase decreased in the liver and testis but was increased in the epididymis. Furthermore, hepatic glutathione and lactate dehydrogenase activity increased while epididymal catalase, ascorbate content, hepatic aspartate aminotransferase and glutathione peroxidase activities in all the tissues decreased in the atrazine-treated animals. Hepatic, testicular and epididymal alanine aminotransferase activities were not affected by atrazine (
p>0.05). Decreased epididymal and testicular sperm number, sperm motility, daily sperm production and increased number of dead and abnormal sperm were observed in atrazine-treated rats.
Treatment of rats orally with selenium at a dose of 0.25
mg/kg did not prevent atrazine-induced changes in sperm characteristics and had no protective effects against atrazine-induced biochemical alterations in the testis and epididymis except testicular lactate dehydrogenase. Catalase activity and ascorbate contents were unchanged in these groups of animals. However, selenium effectively protected against atrazine-induced changes in biochemical indices in the liver. In rats treated with selenium alone, glutathione peroxidase in all the tissues, hepatic glutathione and superoxide dismutase, testicular lactate dehydrogenase activity and ascorbate content increased, while hepatic catalase activities decreased (
p<0.05).
Our data suggest that selenium effectively attenuated the toxic effects of atrazine-induced liver changes but not in the reproductive organs and sperms of rats. Selenium might therefore be useful in ameliorating oxidative stress in the liver.
Background： Sheep is important in the socio-economic lives of people around the world. It is estimated that more than half of our once common livestock breeds are now endangered. Since genetic ...characterization of Nigerian sheep is still lacking, we analyzed ten morphological traits on 402 animals and 15 microsatellite DNA markers in 384 animals of the 4 Nigerian sheep breeds to better understand genetic diversity for breeding management and germplasm conservation. Results： Morphological traits of Uda and Balami were significantly （P 〈 0.05） higher than Yankasa, which were both higher than West African Dwarf （WAD） sheep. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed tail length, rump height, chest girth, ear length and chest depth as the most discriminating variables for classification. Mahalanobis distances show the least differentiation between Uda and Balami and the largest between WAD and Balami sheep. While 93.3% of WAD sheep were correctly assigned to their source genetic group, 63.9% of Yankasa, 61.2% of Balami and 45.2% of Uda were classified correctly by nearest neighbour discriminant analysis. The overall high Polymorphism Information Content （PIC） of all microsatellite markers ranged from 0.751 to 0.927 supporting their use in genetic characterization. Expected heterozygosity was high for all loci （0.783 to 0.93）. Mean heterozygote deficiency across all populations （0.17 to 0.534） possibly indicate significant inbreeding （P 〈 0.05）. Mean values for FST, FIT and F~s statistics across all loci were 0.088, 0.394 and 0.336 respectively. Yankasa and Balami are the most closely related breeds （DA = 0.184） while WAD and Balami are the farthest apart breeds （DA-- 0.665）, which is coincident with distance based on morphological analysis and population structure assessed by STRUCTURE. Conclusions： These results suggest that within-breed genetic variation in Nigerian sheep is higher than between-breeds and may be a valuable tool for genetic improvement and conservation. The higher genetic variability in Yankasa suggests the presence of unique ancestral alleles reflecting the presence of certain functional genes which may result in better adaptability in characteristics are potentially useful in planning indigenous sheep. more agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. These genetic mprovement and conservation strategies in Nigerian
Quinine, a rapidly acting blood schizonticide with a long history of use for the treatment of malaria, is gradually been implicated in reproductive toxicity.
In this study, testicular and ...spermatotoxic effects of quinine sulfate (QS) following treatment with an oral dose of 10 mg/kg/day (normal therapeutic dose) for 8 weeks was investigated in male albino rats. Toxicity was evaluated by assessing antioxidant defense capacity and markers of oxidative stress and testicular dysfunction in the testes and epididymal sperm. The possible ameliorative effect of quercetin (QC), when co-administered with QS, was also assessed.
Administration of QS induced oxidative stress in rats. The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and malondialdehyde (a marker of lipid peroxidation) increased (p<0.05) both in the testes and epididymal sperm following QS treatment when compared with saline-treated (control) rats. Ascorbic acid levels were significantly reduced, with an insignificant decrease in glutathione and testosterone levels in the QS-treated rats, when compared with control. The spermiogram decreased with increase in total sperm abnormalities in QS-treated rats and was associated with histopathological changes. Our results revealed that QC significantly ameliorated QS-induced testicular toxicity and oxidative stress.
The testicular toxicity of QS is in part due to impairment of testicular antioxidant defense, spermatogenesis and enhancement of lipid peroxidation. Also, the ability of QC to reverse the deleterious effects of QS on the testes and epididymis qualifies it as a potent chemo-protective agent against QS-induced reproductive toxicity.
SUMMARY Gonadal and extragonadal sperm reserves were determined in twenty sexually matured domesticated African greater cane rats. Mean (±SD) sperm numbers in testes and epididymides were ...150.40±12.93×109 and 259.33±13.68×109 , respectively. The mean epididymal distribution of spermatozoa was found as follows: 67.53±12.43×109 in caput, 89.10±13.20×109 in corpus, and 102.70 ±13.71×109 in cauda. This study provides baseline data essential for effective selection of male cane rats for breeding purposes.
Interferential current (IFC) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) are forms of electrical stimulation frequently used to treat knee osteoarthritis (OA). The relative effectiveness ...of these two modalities is currently unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of IFC and TENS, when used in conjunction with exercise, on pain and function in patients with knee OA. Forty-six subjects with radiographically confirmed OA were randomly assigned to one of three groups: TENS and standardised exercises, IFC and exercises or exercises alone. An electrical stimulator was used to apply IFC or TENS at 80 Hz for 20 minutes. All groups had a standardised exercise programme. Treatment was applied twice per week for 4 weeks. Outcomes included a 10-point pain rating scale for pain intensity and the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). A two-way repeated measures ANOVA performed on the pain assessment score showed a statistically significant effect of time (
p < 0.001), but not of experimental group (
p = 0.813) or interaction (
p = 0.067). A similar result was obtained for WOMAC score (
p < 0.001,
p = 0.241 and
p = 0.130 for time, group and interaction effects, respectively). All treatment protocols led to significant improvements in pain and function over time. Neither IFC nor TENS displayed significant additional effects over exercise alone.
Background: Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are molecular chaperones known to bind and sequester client proteins under stress.
Methods: To identify and better understand some of these proteins, we carried ...out a computational genome-wide survey of the bovine genome. For this, HSP sequences from each subfamily (sHSP, HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90) were used to search the Pfam (Protein family) database, for identifying exact HSP domain sequences based on the hidden Markov model. ProtParam tool was used to compute potential physico-chemical parameters detectable from a protein sequence. Evolutionary trace (ET) method was used to extract evolutionarily functional residues of a homologous protein family.
Results: We computationally identified 67 genes made up of 10, 43, 10 and 4 genes belonging to small HSP, HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90 families respectively. These genes were widely dispersed across the bovine genome, except in chromosomes 24, 26 and 27, which lack bovine HSP genes. We found an uncharacterized outer dense fiber (
ODF1) gene in cattle with an intact alpha crystallin domain, like other small HSPs. Physico-chemical characteristic of aliphatic index was higher in HSP70 and HSP90 gene families, compared to small HSP and HSP40. Grand average hydropathy showed that small HSP (sHSP), HSP40, HSP70 and HSP90 genes had negative values except for
DNAJC22, a member of HSP40 gene family. The uniqueness of
DNAJA3 and
DNAJB13 among HSP40 members, based on multiple sequence alignment, evolutionary trace analysis and sequence identity dendrograms, suggests evolutionary distinct structural and functional features, with unique roles in substrate recognition and chaperone functions. The monophyletic pattern of the sequence identity dendrograms of cattle, human and mouse HSP sequences suggests functional similarities.
Conclusions: Our computational results demonstrate the first-pass
in-silico identification of heat shock proteins and calls for further investigation to better understand their functional roles and mechanisms in Bovidae.
The deterioration of male reproductive health may represent an outcome of an active disease and environmental factors. The present study investigated the modulatory role of 6-gingerol in ...spermatotoxicity resulting from colitis and benzoapyrene (BaP), an environmental and food-borne pollutant.
Group I (control) mice received corn oil alone, while group II (6-gingerol alone) mice orally received 6-gingerol alone at 100 mg/kg body weight. Group III benzoapyrene+dextran sulfate sodium (BDS) alone mice were orally exposed to BaP at 125 mg/kg for 7 days followed by three cycles of 4% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in drinking water. A cycle consisted of seven consecutive days of exposure to DSS-treated water followed by 14 consecutive days of normal drinking water. Group IV (BDS+6-gingerol) mice were orally treated daily with 100 mg/kg of 6-gingerol during exposure to BaP and DSS in the same manner as those of group III.
6-Gingerol significantly abrogated BDS-mediated increase in disease activity index and restored the colon wet weight, colon length and colon mass index to near normal when compared to BDS alone group. Moreover, 6-gingerol significantly prevented BDS-induced decreases in the daily sperm production (DSP), testicular sperm number (TSN), epididymal sperm number, sperm progressive motility and sperm membrane integrity when compared with the control. 6-Gingerol markedly increased the sperm antioxidant enzymes activities and decreased the sperm head, mid-piece and tail abnormalities as well as suppressed oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers in BDS-exposed mice.
6-Gingerol protected against spermatotoxicity in experimental model of interaction of colitis with environmental pollutant BaP.
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