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Physalis pubescens L. alleviates testicular disruptions associated with streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats, Rattus norvegicus

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Abstract

Testicular impairment is a serious complication of diabetes that is mediated by oxidative stress and inflammation. Physalis has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory actions. Thus, the present study investigated the ameliorative role of Physalis juice (PJ) prepared from the fruits against testicular damages in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Adult male Wistar rats were divided randomly into five groups (n=6): control, orally administered 5 mL PJ/kg daily (PJ), injected intraperitoneally with a single dose of 55 mg STZ/kg without treatment (STZ), or treated daily with PJ (STZ+PJ) or with 500 mg metformin/kg (STZ+Met), for 28 days. The STZ group showed a marked elevation in the blood glucose level by 230%, whereas remarkable declines in the serum levels of testosterone (44%), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (48%), and luteinizing hormone (LH) (36%), as compared to controls. In comparison to controls, the testis of the STZ group showed remarkable declines in the testis weight (15%), the glutathione (GSH) content (45%), mRNA and protein levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) (48 and 35%), mRNA and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) (63 and 40%), catalase (CAT) (56 and 31%), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (51 and 44%), and glutathione reductase (GR) (62 and 43%), whereas marked elevations in the levels of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β (169%), tumor necrosis factor-alfa (TNFα) (85%), nitric oxide (NO) (96%), malondialdehyde (MDA) (83%), mRNA and protein levels of Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax) (400 and 61%), and mRNA level of caspase-3 (Cas-3) (370%). Some histopathological alterations were observed in the testicular tissue of the STZ group. In contrast, PJ markedly alleviated all the abovementioned disturbances. In conclusion, PJ at a dose of 5 mL/kg attenuated the diabetes-associated testicular impairments, which may be due to its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic actions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. Ramy Basheer Ibrahim, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, for his helpful contributions in the molecular analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Atef Abdel-Moneem Ali

  2. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt

    Ehab Abdel-Raouf Essawy

  3. Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Noha Sayed Mohamed & Fawzy Ali Attaby

  4. Zoology and Entomology Department, Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt

    Ahmed E. Abdel Moneim

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Contributions

AAA, EAE, and FAA contributed to the planning of the experimental design. NSM contributed to the animal handling and experimental procedures. AEA and EAE contributed to the molecular analysis and experimental procedures. AAA contributed to the statistical analysis and interpretation of data. AAA contributed to the manuscript writing and editing.

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Correspondence to Atef Abdel-Moneem Ali.

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All the handling and sampling procedures, in the present study, were approved by Cairo University – Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (CU-IACUC), Giza, Egypt, under the approval number of CU/I/F/C/22/19.

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Ali, A.AM., Essawy, E.AR., Mohamed, N.S. et al. Physalis pubescens L. alleviates testicular disruptions associated with streptozotocin-induced diabetes in male Wistar rats, Rattus norvegicus. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 12300–12312 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16616-1

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