Abstract
BackgroundHyperglycemia can impair the male reproductive system in experimental animals and in men during reproductive age. Studies have shown that vitamin C has some good effects on male reproductive system, and therefore vitamin C treatment could attenuate the dysfunctions in this system caused by hyperglycemia. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate whether vitamin C treatment could attenuate reproductive dysfunctions in hyperglycemic male rats.MethodsAdult male rats were divided into 3 groups: a normoglycemic (n = 10) and two hyperglycemic (that received a single dose of streptozotocin - 40 mg/kg BW). The two last groups (n = 10 per group) were divided into: hyperglycemic control (Hy) and hyperglycemic + 150 mg of vitamin C (HyC), by gavage during 30 consecutive days. The normoglycemic and hyperglycemic control groups received the vehicle (water). The first day after the treatment, the rats were anesthetized and killed to evaluate oxidative stress biomarkers (TBARS, SOD, GSHt and GSH-Px) in the erythrocytes, body and reproductive organ weights, sperm parameters, plasma hormone levels (FSH, LH and testosterone), testicular and epididymal histo-morphometry and histopathology.ResultsCompared with the normoglycemic animals, hyperglycemic control rats showed reduced weight of the body and reproductive organ but testis weight was maintained. It was also observed reduction of testosterone and LH levels, seminiferous tubular diameter, sperm motility and sperm counts in the epididymis. In addition, there was an increase in morphological abnormalities on spermatozoa as well as in oxidative stress level. Vitamin C reduced the oxidative stress level, diminished the number of abnormal sperm, and increased testosterone and LH levels and seminiferous tubular diameter but did not show improvement of sperm motility in relation to the hyperglycemic control group. Hyperglycemia caused a rearrangement in the epididymal tissue components (stroma, ephitelium and lumen) as demonstrated by the stereological analysis results. However, this alteration was partially prevented by vitamin C treatment.ConclusionsWe conclude that vitamin C partially attenuated some male reproductive system dysfunctions in hyperglycemic rats.
Highlights
Hyperglycemia can impair the male reproductive system in experimental animals and in men during reproductive age
Concentrations of GSHt were similar between hyperglycemic control significant decrease in the final body, prostate and full seminal vesicle weights compared to normoglycemic animals
As previously showed [29], our study demonstrated that oral administration of vitamin C produced an antioxidant effect in the erythrocytes, as evidenced by significant increase of GSHt concentration and GSH-Px activity, and reduced TBARS levels in streptozotocininduced hyperglycemia in rats
Summary
Hyperglycemia can impair the male reproductive system in experimental animals and in men during reproductive age. It is well known that in streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemic male rats, the reproductive changes include reduction of male organ and body weights [3,4] oligospermia [3,5,6], diminished fertility [7], decreased testosterone and gonadotropin levels [6,8] depletion of Vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, is an important antioxidant substance in biological systems [13] It is a watersoluble micronutrient, well absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and required for multiple biological functions and biochemical reactions in humans and animals and it is an important element for the body [14]. Neither these studies nor any other evaluated the effects of vitamin C on the male reproductive system morphophysiology of hyperglycemic adult rats as shown in the current study
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