Folic acid and vitamin B12 ameliorate nicotine-induced testicular toxicity in rats

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Cigarette smoking, one of the fundamental roots of preventable morbidity, has a myriad of notorious effects. Nicotine is the most bountiful and symbolic constituent of cigarette smoke. The liaison between smoking and infertility has been investigated for decades; but it’s still dubious whether the noxious effects of cigarette smoking on testis and sperm characteristics are by virtue of nicotine. Therefore, the current study interrogated the ameliorative effects of folic acid and vitamin B12 on nicotine induced catastrophe in testicular tissue and sperm characters in male albino rats.
 Materials and Methods: Rats were treated with nicotine (3 mg/kg body weight/day, intraperitoneal) with or without folic acid (36µg/kg body weight/day, orally) and vitamin B12 (0.63µg/kg body weight/ day, orally) for 21 days. Sperm qualities were analyzed for motility and morphology. Various oxidative and anti- oxidative stress parameters, pro inflammatory cytokines levels, hormonal assays were performed.
 Results: Findings marked that nicotine caused degenerative changes in the testicular tissue. Supplementation with folic acid and vitamin B12 reversed these results along with suppressing the nicotine induced changes in TNF- ?, IL-6, and markers of oxidative stress. Moreover, folic acid and vitamin B12 in combination also significantly blunted the altered activities of testicular key androgenic enzymes, plasma levels of testosterone, LH, and FSH following nicotine exposure.
 Conclusion: In closure, testimonies manifested that folic acid and vitamin B12 may act as plausible strategy against oxidative stress, which is a pivotal step in nicotine-induced reproductive toxicity, and bettering functional status of testicular tissue by scavenging free radicals and hindering the generation of pro- inflammatory cytokines.