Effect of some antioxidants on the reproductive performance in rats

Authors

1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University

2 epartment of Physiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University

Abstract

The present study was designed to determine the effect of the antioxidants; taurine, ascorbic acid '' AA '' and beta-mercaptoethanol '' β-ME '' separately or in combination, on reproductive performance of adult male rats suffering from cadmium chloride "CdCl2" - induced oxidative stress. A total of 180 mature male Albino rats were equally divided into 9 groups; the rats of the 1st were administered distilled water while those of the 2nd group were administered 1/100 LD50 of CdCl2. Rats of the remaining groups were administered 1/100 LD50 of CdCl2 followed 3 days later by 1 / 50 LD50 of either taurine, AA and β-ME or a combination of AA and taurine, AA or β-ME, taurine and β-ME as well as AA, taurine and β-ME, respectively for 2 successive months. The results revealed that application of CdCl2 for 8 successive weeks decreased pituitary and serum levels of gonadotropins (gametogenic hormone”FSH” and interstitial cell stimulating hormone “ICSH”) as well as serum testosterone “T” level, altered semen quality, and decreased serum level of total antioxidant capacity with increased serum malondialdhyde "MDA" level. On the other side, application of different antioxidants to CdCl2 –induced oxidative stress increased pituitary and serum levels of  gonadotropins and serum level of T as well as improved semen quality, increased serum level of total antioxidant capacity and decreased serum level of MDA. In addition, the best improvement in male reproductive performance was achieved after administration of AA and taurine separately or in combination while the least improvement was obtained when β-ME was applied alone. 

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