The Effect of Lyophilized Pomegranate Extract on Epididymal Sperm Quality, Oxidative Stress and Spermatogenic Cell Density in Rabbits

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of lyophilized pomegranate extract on spermatological features, pathology of testes and total antioxidant/oxidant status in rabbits. Adult male rabbits were divided into four groups containing six rabbits each. For 8 weeks, Group I received standard diet and 1 ml % 0.5 carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Group II received 25 mg/kg/day pomegranate extract + 1 ml % 0.5 carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), Group III received 50 mg/kg/day pomegranate extract + 1 ml % 0.5 CMC and Group IV received 100 mg/kg/day pomegranate extract + 1 ml % 0.5 CMC. Rabbits were sacrificed by using xylazine 5 mg/kg+ketamine 35 mg/kg anaesthesia and were euthanized by 150 mg / kg intraperitoneal thiopental sodium at the end of the eighth week. Spermatozoon motility, abnormal sperm rate, sperm membrane integrity, total antioxidant/oxidant level and spermatogenic cell density were investigated. All analyses were done only once at the end of study period. Data were compared by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the degree of significance was set at (p<0.05). Sperm motility and membrane integrity increased significantly (p<0.05) in groups II, III and IV; abnormal sperm rate decreased significantly (p<0.05) in groups III, IV; total oxidant status decreased significantly (p<0.05) in group IV in comparison to the control group. Seminiferous tubule diameter increased significantly (p<0.05) in all groups compared to the control group. Germinal cell layer thickness significantly increased (p<0.05) in group IV compared to the control group. Results of this study suggest that 50 mg/kg/day + 1 ml % 0.5 CMC and 100 mg/kg/day + 1 ml % 0.5 CMC improve sperm parameters in rabbits.

[1]  J. Fedder,et al.  An Extract of Pomegranate Fruit and Galangal Rhizome Increases the Numbers of Motile Sperm: A Prospective, Randomised, Controlled, Double-Blinded Trial , 2014, PloS one.

[2]  A. Ahmed,et al.  Pomegranate extract protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury and preserves brain DNA integrity in rats. , 2014, Life sciences.

[3]  N. Verma,et al.  Pomegranate biology and biotechnology: A review , 2013 .

[4]  S. Mansour,et al.  Sensibility of male rats fertility against olive oil, Nigella sativa oil and pomegranate extract. , 2013, Asian Pacific journal of tropical biomedicine.

[5]  M. Ahmed,et al.  Pomegranate peel as a natural antioxidant boosts bucks' fertility under Egyptian summer conditions , 2013 .

[6]  A. Tehranifar,et al.  High potential of agro-industrial by-products of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) as the powerful antifungal and antioxidant substances , 2011 .

[7]  G. Gonzales,et al.  Effect of Punica granatum (pomegranate) on sperm production in male rats treated with lead acetate , 2011, Toxicology mechanisms and methods.

[8]  M. Sönmez,et al.  Attenuation of cyclosporine A-induced testicular and spermatozoal damages associated with oxidative stress by ellagic acid. , 2010, International immunopharmacology.

[9]  D. Naughton,et al.  Anti-collagenase, anti-elastase and anti-oxidant activities of extracts from 21 plants , 2009, BMC complementary and alternative medicine.

[10]  M. Dreher,et al.  Pomegranate (Punica granatum) supplements: Authenticity, antioxidant and polyphenol composition , 2009 .

[11]  C. Hermenegildo,et al.  Isopropanolic Cimicifuga racemosa is favorable on bone markers but neutral on an osteoblastic cell line. , 2009, Fertility and sterility.

[12]  M. Çam,et al.  CLASSIFICATION OF EIGHT POMEGRANATE JUICES BASED ON ANTIOXIDANT CAPACITY MEASURED BY FOUR METHODS , 2009 .

[13]  M. Mansour.  Modification of Hypo-Osmotic Swelling Test to Evaluate the Integrity of Stallion Sperm Plasma Membrane , 2009 .

[14]  Paul Talalay,et al.  Direct and indirect antioxidant properties of inducers of cytoprotective proteins. , 2008, Molecular nutrition & food research.

[15]  M. Sönmez,et al.  Improvement of cisplatin-induced injuries to sperm quality, the oxidant-antioxidant system, and the histologic structure of the rat testis by ellagic acid. , 2008, Fertility and sterility.

[16]  K. Tremellen.  Oxidative stress and male infertility--a clinical perspective. , 2008, Human reproduction update.

[17]  S. Gür,et al.  Effects of pomegranate juice consumption on sperm quality, spermatogenic cell density, antioxidant activity and testosterone level in male rats. , 2008, Clinical nutrition.

[18]  Jing-yu Wei,et al.  Pomegranate juice is potentially better than apple juice in improving antioxidant function in elderly subjects. , 2008, Nutrition research.

[19]  D. Holland,et al.  Antioxidant activity, polyphenol content, and related compounds in different fruit juices and homogenates prepared from 29 different pomegranate accessions. , 2007, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[20]  T. Hayek,et al.  Anti-oxidative effects of pomegranate juice (PJ) consumption by diabetic patients on serum and on macrophages. , 2006, Atherosclerosis.

[21]  A. Gurib-Fakim,et al.  Medicinal plants: traditions of yesterday and drugs of tomorrow. , 2006, Molecular aspects of medicine.

[22]  H. Mukhtar,et al.  Prostate Cancer Prevention Through Pomegranate Fruit , 2006, Cell cycle.

[23]  O. Erel,et al.  A new automated colorimetric method for measuring total oxidant status. , 2005, Clinical biochemistry.

[24]  David Heber,et al.  In vitro antiproliferative, apoptotic and antioxidant activities of punicalagin, ellagic acid and a total pomegranate tannin extract are enhanced in combination with other polyphenols as found in pomegranate juice. , 2005, The Journal of nutritional biochemistry.

[25]  M. Sönmez,et al.  The effect of ascorbic acid supplementation on sperm quality, lipid peroxidation and testosterone levels of male Wistar rats. , 2005, Theriogenology.

[26]  C. Napoli,et al.  Beneficial effects of pomegranate juice on oxidation-sensitive genes and endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity at sites of perturbed shear stress. , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[27]  Wen G. Jiang,et al.  Pomegranate (Punica granatum) pure chemicals show possible synergistic inhibition of human PC-3 prostate cancer cell invasion across Matrigel™ , 2005, Investigational New Drugs.

[28]  H. Mukhtar,et al.  Anthocyanin‐ and hydrolyzable tannin‐rich pomegranate fruit extract modulates MAPK and NF‐κB pathways and inhibits skin tumorigenesis in CD‐1 mice , 2005, International journal of cancer.

[29]  C. A.R..  THE MORPHOLOGY OF BULL SPERMATOZOA , 2005 .

[30]  A. Debnath,et al.  Punica granatum (Pomegranate) juice provides an HIV-1 entry inhibitor and candidate topical microbicide , 2004, BMC infectious diseases.

[31]  David Heber,et al.  Bioavailability of ellagic acid in human plasma after consumption of ellagitannins from pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) juice. , 2004, Clinica chimica acta; international journal of clinical chemistry.

[32]  H. Ishikawa,et al.  Validation of the sperm quality analyzer and the hypo-osmotic swelling test for frozen-thawed ram and minke whale (Balaenoptera bonarensis) spermatozoa. , 2004, The Journal of reproduction and development.

[33]  O. Erel.  A novel automated direct measurement method for total antioxidant capacity using a new generation, more stable ABTS radical cation. , 2003, Clinical biochemistry.

[34]  R. Aitken,et al.  The human spermatozoon--not waving but drowning. , 2003, Advances in experimental medicine and biology.

[35]  A. Genazzani,et al.  Membrane integrity evaluation in rabbit spermatozoa. , 2002, European journal of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology.

[36]  R. Singh,et al.  Studies on the antioxidant activity of pomegranate (Punica granatum) peel and seed extracts using in vitro models. , 2002, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[37]  F. Tomás-Barberán,et al.  Antioxidant activity of pomegranate juice and its relationship with phenolic composition and processing. , 2000, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[38]  T. Hayek,et al.  Pomegranate juice consumption reduces oxidative stress and low density lipoprotein atherogenic modifications: studies in the atherosclerotic apolipoprotein E deficient mice and in humans , 2000 .