Background: In vitro impact of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and 17-estradiol (E2) in osteogenic differentiation of castrated rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBMMSC) still need to be clarified. Materials and Methods: The viability, proliferation and density of cultured rBMMSC isolated from sham operated (Sham) and castrated (Cast) male rats were evaluated. rBMMSC were cultured with osteogenic differentiating medium (ODM) in the presence of DHT (5,10 nM) and E2 (10,100 nM). Osteogenesis was evaluated by alizarin red staining and measurement of calcium deposition and bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP) activity. Results: Population doubling (PD) of rBMMSC isolated from Cast rats was significantly lower (P<0.05) compared to that isolated from Sham rats. rBMMSC from Cast rats showed low scattered calcified nodule after culturing in ODM and did not cause a significant increase in calcium deposition and B-ALP activity compared to rBMMSCs from Sham rats. Exposure of rBMMSC isolated from Cast rats to DHT (5 nM) or E2 (10 nM) in ODM showed medium scattered calcified nodules with significantly higher (P<0.05) calcium deposition and B-ALP activity. Moreover, exposure of rBMMSC to DHT (10 nM) or E2 (100 nM) showed high scattered calcified nodules with higher (P<0.01) calcium deposition and B-ALP activity Conclusion: These results indicated that the presence of testes might participate in controlling the in vitro proliferation and osteogenic differentiation capacity of rBMMSCs. DHT and E2 can enhance the osteogenic capacity of rBMMSCs in a dose-dependent manner. Based on these observations, optimum usage of DHT and E2 can overcome the limitations of MSCs and advance the therapeutic bone regeneration potential in the future.

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Background: Fish, a widely claimed healthy food for humans, could also pose problems to health due to accumulation of pollutants, especially heavy metals and pesticides. Since the world's fish stocks are limited due to overfishing, degraded freshwater, and pollution from various sources, the government proposed farmed fish which is one of the fastest growing food production sectors as an alternative. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of tilapia or Mugil cephalus fish diets obtained from polluted areas on male reproductive hormones and prolactin. A total of 80 male Wister albino rats having an average weight of 130-150 g at the beginning of the experiment were used. They were divided into control group and seven treated groups which received the following doses that increased monthly according to the increase in rat body weight (b.w.). The treated groups received 200 g/70 kg human b.w. which is equivalent to 0.4 g/140 g rat b.w., 0.63 g/220 g rat b.w., and 0.83 g/291 g rat b.w. of tilapia fish (wild and farmed freshwater and brackish water) or Mugil cephalus fish (farmed freshwater and brackish water and wild marine water) daily for 3 months then were left on AIN-93M diet and purified water ad libitum. Results: The present results demonstrated that tilapia and Mugil cephalus fish diets caused decrease in serum total testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and sperm count, while sperm abnormalities significantly increased. Also, significant elevation of serum prolactin was observed in male rats fed with the same diets except wild brackish water tilapia fish and farmed freshwater and brackish water Mugil cephalus fish diets which showed a decrease. However, tilapia and Mugil cephalus fish diets had no effect on serum 17β-estradiol. The histopathological studies confirmed biochemical data as less dense packing of spermatogenic cell of the seminiferous tubules with reduction in the number of sperms in lumen of the epididymal tubules. Conclusions: These results may indicate that consumption of tilapia and Mugil cephalus fish diets from polluted areas has adverse effects on male reproductive hormones and prolactin in male albino rats.

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