Quercetin attenuates carbon tetrachloride-induced testicular damage in rats

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of quercetin on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4 )-induced sperm damages, testicular apoptosis and oxidative stress in male rats. Group 1 served as control, group 2 was treated with only quercetin, group 3 was treated with only CCl4 and group 4 received CCl4 + quercetin. All administrations were performed by gavage and maintained for 10 weeks. CCl4 administration caused significant decreases in absolute and relative reproductive organ weights, sperm motility, concentration and testicular glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase (CAT) activities, and significant increases in lipid peroxidation (LPO) level, abnormal sperm rate and testicular apoptotic cell index, along with some histopathological damages when compared to the control group. However, administration of CCl4 together with quercetin provided statistically significant improvements in LPO level, abnormal sperm rate, the degree of histopathological lesions and testicular apoptotic cell index when compared to only CCl4 group. In addition, improvements observed in absolute and relative weights of reproductive organs, sperm motility and concentration, and testicular GSH-Px and CAT activities in group 4 were statistically insignificant when compared to only CCl4 group. In conclusion, quercetin has antiperoxidative effect, and its oral administration attenuates the CCl4 -induced some damages in male reproductive organs and cells by decreasing the LPO.

The protective effect of N-acetyl cysteine against carbon tetrachloride toxicity in rats

“…This result agrees with Sonmez et al (2014). Additionally, results revealed that abnormalities such as amorphous and without hook were the most frequently observed types after CCL4 exposure which coincides with Abdou, Salah, Hoda, and Abdel Rahim (2012).…”

Pathological and Ultra-structural Changes in Testis of Rats due to Doxorubicin Toxicity and its Amelioration with Quercetin

“…Thus quercetin showed cytoprotection due to its effect on prevention of free radical production in testicular cells, so mechanical disruption of epithelium was less. These findings were supported by previous studies demonstrating that active compounds present in quercetin has protective effects against testicular damage caused by different toxic agents such as carbon tetrachloride (Sonmez et al, 2014), docetaxel (Altintas et al, 2015), TCDD (Ciftci et al, 2012) and FNT (Saber et al, 2015).…”

Safety Aspects of the Use of Quercetin as a Dietary Supplement

“…This study used probably young animals (unknown age, an average body weight of 131 g was reported) and applied only a relatively low quercetin dose . Other studies with adults male rats, investigating primarily beneficial effects of quercetin against chemically induced reproductive toxicity, did not find any deleterious effects on sperm parameters, reproductive organ weights, and histopathology or on testicular and plasma testosterone levels after administration of 50 mg quercetin per kg bw per day for 7 or 10 weeks or 150 mg quercetin per kg bw per day for 10 weeks …”