Abstract
Graviola (Annona muricata), an edible plant belonging to the Annonaceae family, has a long history in traditional medicine due to its wide range of therapeutic effects on many ailments. This study was planned to assess the protective potentials of Graviola leaves extract (GLE) on cadmium-induced testicular damage in male albino rats. The study was conducted on 32 male adult Wistar rats randomly divided into four groups (n=8/each). A (control group); B (GLE, 100 mg/kg); C (cadmium chloride (CdCl2), 5 mg/kg) and D (GLE, 100 mg/kg + CdCl2 5 mg/kg). All administrations were performed by daily gavage for 8 weeks. Blood, testes, and epididymis were harvested for biochemical and histological investigations. In addition to sperm analysis, sperm DNA comet assay, and apoptotic indices. Results revealed that GLE significantly reversed (p < 0.05) testicular oxidative stress induced by CdCl2, maintained male sex hormones levels, and restored testis architecture via increasing the testicular antioxidant status. GLE co-treatment significantly increased (p < 0.05) sperm count, motility, viability, and DNA integrity along with significantly reducing sperm DNA damage and sperm head abnormality in comparison with CdCl2 group. Additionally, GLE protected germ cells from Cd-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, results of the present study confirmed that GLE has potent antioxidant potentials and cytoprotective capacity against the deleterious effects of CdCl2 on testicular tissue by reducing cellular oxidative stress prompted by the generation of the reactive oxygen species.
Highlights
Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal found in the earth’s crust combined with other elements, such as oxygen, chlorine, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur
Certain studies have reported a significant decrease in both body and testes weight after Cd exposure (Liu et al, 2016; Nna et al, 2017)
Results showed that Cd increased testicular oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation through significantly decreasing (p
Summary
Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal found in the earth’s crust combined with other elements, such as oxygen, chlorine, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur. The main ways for Cd exposure are through industrial emissions, cigarette smoke, agricultural fertilizers, and ingestion of Cd found in certain food and water (Richter et al, 2017; Satarug et al, 2010). Cd toxicity is due to acute and chronic exposure which can occur from oral exposure to Cd, as well as respiratory exposure (Lech and Sadlik, 2017). The risk of Cd exposure is due to its prolonged half-life (about 20– 30 years in humans), its low body elimination rate and its accumulation in the body organs (Bu et al, 2011), causing extensive damage to almost all biological tissues, especially liver and kidney (Alese et al, 2018).
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