Protective effects of pomegranate (Punica granatum) juice on testes against carbon tetrachloride intoxication in rats

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Ahmed E Abdel Moneim¹  Ebtesam M Al-Olayan²  Dina M Metwally³  Manal F El-Khadragy⁴ 

[1] Zoology & Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt;Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, Asturias Institute of Biotechnology, University of Oviedo, 33006, Oviedo, Spain;Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt;Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Zoology & Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt;

关键词: Punica granatum;    Carbon tetrachloride;    Oxidative stress;    Testes;    Rats;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-164

 received in 2013-03-25, accepted in 2014-05-13,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPomegranate fruit has been extensively used as a natural medicine in many cultures. The present study was aimed at evaluating the protective effects of pomegranate (Punica granatum) juice against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced oxidative stress and testes injury in adult Wistar rats.MethodsTwenty eight Wistar albino male rats were divided equally into 4 groups for the assessment of protective potential of pomegranate juice. Rats of group I (control) received only vehicles and had free access to food and water. Rats of groups II and IV were treated with CCl4 (2 ml/kg bwt) via the intraperitoneal route once a week for ten weeks. The pomegranate juice was supplemented via drinking water 2 weeks before and concurrent with CCl4 treatment to group IV. Group III was supplemented with pomegranate juice for twelve weeks. The protective effects of pomegranate on serum sex hormones, oxidative markers, activities of antioxidant enzymes and histopathology of testes were determined in CCl4-induced reproductive toxicity in rats.ResultsPomegranate juice showed significant elevation in testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) those depleted by the injection of CCl4. Activity levels of endogenous testesticular antioxidant enzymes; superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione (GSH) contents were increased while lipid peroxidation (LPO) and nitric oxide (NO) were decreased with pomegranate juice. Moreover, degeneration of germ and Leydig cells along with deformities in spermatogenesis induced after CCl4 injections were restored with the treatment of pomegranate juice.ConclusionThe results clearly demonstrated that pomegranate juice augments the antioxidant defense mechanism against carbon tetrachloride-induced reproductive toxicity and provides evidence that it may have a therapeutic role in free radical mediated diseases.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Al-Olayan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.