Abstract
Punicalagin (PU) is a known antioxidant. The present study examined PU to protect against lead-induced oxidative stress (OS) testicular damage in mice. Significant increase in lipid peroxidation (LPO) after intraperitoneal injection of lead acetate (LA) indicated enormous generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Lead-induced OS has a direct effect on the differentiation of spermatogonial cells, showing a significant decline in sperm count. Supplementation of PU significantly changes values of LPO and glutathione (GSH) with a concomitant increase in sperm count, a marked decrease in the abnormal sperms, and a decline in the morphologically abnormal sperm population. Moreover, the histopathological evaluation of testes and epididymides showed severe changes in mice treated with LA. PU significantly induced nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2-like 2 (Nrf2) expression and phase II enzymes, and data suggest that PU may inhibit OS through Nrf2 activation. The fertility test proved that PU might play an important role in male infertility treatment, especially in the type of infertility induced by OS.
Highlights
Lead compound toxicity has been studied in different human diseases
Lead acetate (LA) showed a significant increase in the lipid peroxidation (LPO) concentration as compared to the control while PU and LA co-administration showed a marked decrease in LPO (Table 1)
The study authenticated that the group which received LA had significantly reduced levels of GSH in the testicular tissue homogenate when compared with control animals, and it had significantly increased LPO contents when compared with control group
Summary
Lead compound toxicity has been studied in different human diseases. It is used for various industry and household products [1,2]. Studies in human and animals previously proved that sperm motility, DNA damage and sperm shape are affected by lead [9,10]. The beneficial effects of antioxidants on heavy metal-induced toxicity or OS have been documented previously [18]. Previous studies revealed that PJ contains certain constituents that appear to have beneficial therapeutic properties, including antioxidative effects [19,20]. Here LA is used to cause high damage in the testis and we want to evaluate the PU defensive capacity against high oxidative stress-induced damage. The biochemical and histopathological effects of daily PU consumption on the OS parameters and sperm concentrations of mice were subsequently evaluated
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