Vitamin E administration does not ameliorate tramadol‐associated impairment of testicular function in Wistar rats

Abstract

Tramadol is widely abused in Nigeria and has been reported to cause fertility decline via testicular oxidative stress. This study investigated the effect of vitamin E, an antioxidant on some reproductive parameters in male Wistar rats administered tramadol. Twenty male Wistar rats (180-200 g) were randomly assigned into four groups (n = 5) thus: Control (0.2 ml vehicle: olive oil), tramadol-treated (20 mg/kg of tramadol), vitamin E-treated (100 mg/kg of vitamin E) and tramadol + vitamin Etreated (received tramadol and vitamin E) groups. Drugs were administered orally and daily for 28 days. Sperm count, Johnsen's score, germinal epithelial height and serum testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) concentrations were significantly (p < .05) decreased in tramadol-treated and tramadol + vitamin E compared with control and vitamin E-treated groups. Sperm motility, morphology, viability, seminiferous tubular diameter, Leydig cell count, Sertoli cell count and malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase concentrations were not significantly different among the groups. Histology of testis and epididymis in all groups showed no toxicity but decreased sperm population in tramadol-treated and tramadol + vitamin E-treated groups. Tramadol did not cause testicular oxidative stress but impaired testicular function by suppressing testosterone, FSH and LH secretion. Vitamin E administration could not attenuate this impairment in testicular function. K E Y W O R D S spermatogenesis, testis, testosterone, tramadol, vitamin E How to cite this article: Udefa AL, Beshel FN, Nwangwa JN, et al. Vitamin E administration does not ameliorate tramadolassociated impairment of testicular function in Wistar rats.

Antioxidants (selenium and garlic) alleviated the adverse effects of tramadol on the reproductive system and oxidative stress markers in male rabbits

“…Supporting our finding, the tramadol-treated female rats had lower estrogen levels in their serum, whereas the tramadol/vitamin C and tramadol/vitamin E treated groups had significantly higher levels 56 . In agreement with the previous studies, it has been found that opioids reduced serum testosterone levels in both rats, mice, and humans 1 , 63 – 67 . Histopathological investigation of tramadol-treated rabbit testes demonstrated vacuolization and the presence of disrupted immature spermatozoid.…”

Addiction and human male fertility: A systematic review and a critical appraisal

“…24 However, another animal study reported that reduced sperm counts in rats treated with tramadol were not related to oxidative stress but rather to decreased T, FSH, and LH. 25 From accumulated pieces of evidence, tramadol addiction possibly harms male fertility, although further studies on human subjects are needed.…”

Testicular quantitative ultrasound: A noninvasive monitoring method for evaluating spermatogenic function in busulfan‐induced testicular injury mouse models

“…The reduction in the number of germ cells in the seminiferous tubules corresponds to a decrease in the diameter of the seminiferous tubules. Thus, measurement of this diameter can be used to quantify spermatogenic function inside the testes and is easy to perform (Ameli et al, 2018;Udefa et al, 2020). For evaluation of the destruction and recovery period of spermatogenic function, the percentage of tubules with spermatogenic cells is also a useful tool.…”

“…Busulfan-induced testicular injury mouse models are commonly used for experiments on spermatogonial stem cell transplantation, treatments for azoospermia due to spermatogenic failure and preserving male fertility after chemotherapy, in which evaluating spermatogenic function is essential (Ganguli et al, 2016;Sharma et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2020). To evaluate spermatogenic function after busulfan treatment, several parameters, including the testicle-to-body weight ratio, percentage of tubules with spermatogenic cells and seminiferous tubule diameter, have been used (Karna et al, 2019;Udefa et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2019). However, all of these parameters have the same limitations.…”