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Beneficial effects of Salvia officinalis essential oil on vanadium-induced testicular injury, DNA damage and histological alterations in Wistar rats

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Abstract

Vanadium has been shown to catalyze the generation of reactive oxygen species. Since free radical production and lipid peroxidation are potentially important mediators in testicular physiology and pathophysiology, the present study was conducted to elucidate vanadium-induced oxidative damage in rat testis and the ameliorative role of Salvia officinalis essential oil (SEO) against the adverse effects of this heavy metal. Adult male Wistar rats were treated daily during 10 days either with ammonium metavanadate (5 mg/kg bw, intraperitoneally), SEO (15 mg/kg bw, orally) or their combination. A group of rats receiving daily a saline solution served as a negative control. Vanadium treatment induced a significant decrease in body and reproductive organ weights, serum testosterone level and sperm number and motility. An increase in lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation as well as a marked inhibition in the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the testes and seminal vesicles indicated the occurrence of oxidative stress after vanadium toxicity. Histopathological changes in testis and seminal vesicles were also observed following vanadium administration. However, co-administration of SEO to vanadium-treated rats resulted in an appreciable improvement of these parameters, emphasizing the therapeutic effects of SEO. It can be suggested that SEO mitigates vanadium-induced reproductive damage due to its antioxidant capacity. Thus, we can hypothesize that SEO supplementation could protect against vanadium poisoning.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mrs. Raoudha Ben Amar Abdennadher for her skillful technical assistance.

Funding

This study was financed by the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry; Research Unit: UR/13 ES-73; Tunisia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Fatma Ghorbel Koubaa, Mariem Chaâbane, Hajer Jdidi & Abdelfattah El Feki

  2. Laboratory of Plant Improvement and Agri-Resources Valorization, National School of Engineers of Sfax (ENIS), Sfax, Tunisia

    Nour Chiab & Radhia Gargouri Bouzid

  3. Physiology and Aquatic Environment Unit, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia

    Mediha Sefi

  4. Laboratory of Histopathology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Ons Boudawara & Tahia Boudawara Sellami

  5. Laboratory of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sfax, 3029, Sfax, Tunisia

    Mouna Turki & Fatma Makni Ayadi

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  1. Fatma Ghorbel Koubaa
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  2. Mariem Chaâbane
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  3. Nour Chiab
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Contributions

FGK: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing-review and editing. MC: writing-review and editing. NC: methodology. HJ: methodology. MS: methodology. OB: methodology. MT: methodology. RGB: methodology. TBS: methodology. FMA: methodology AE: funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Fatma Ghorbel Koubaa.

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Ghorbel Koubaa, F., Chaâbane, M., Chiab, N. et al. Beneficial effects of Salvia officinalis essential oil on vanadium-induced testicular injury, DNA damage and histological alterations in Wistar rats. Biometals 35, 833–851 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-022-00407-3

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