Halvaei Iman, Roodsari Hamid Reza Sadeghipour, Harat Zhila Naghibi
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Yazd Institute for Reproductive Sciences, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
J Reprod Infertil. 2012 Jan;13(1):33-8.
Increase in world population is one of the serious and threatening issues in this century. Therefore, it is vitally important to find safe and effective contraceptive methods, especially for men which already have few choices in this regard. Medicinal plants that were used for contraception in ancient times could be good sources of investigation in this filed. Ruta graveolens L. is one the plants introduced in the Iranian traditional medicine as an oral male contraception to be used before intercourse. In this study we tried to investigate the probable effects of the plant on the spermatozoa of male rats.
Ruta graveolens L. aqueous extract (5 g/kg) was administered orally to five groups of male rats and sperm motility was checked after half, one, two, four and six hours later. Moreover, one group of rats served as the control group. Subsequently, viability of cells (Eosin-Nigrosin staining), morphological changes (Diff-Quick staining), DNA status (acridine orange dye) and serum testosterone levels were assessed in the treated groups which had significant immotile spermatozoa. For statistical analysis, Student's t-test and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test were employed for comparison between groups.
A significant reduction in sperm motility was seen one hour after administration of the extract in the case groups compared to the controls (36% vs. 68.15%, respectively, p <0.01). The motility gradually increased afterwards, and by 6 hours, it was the same as the control group (65.43% and 68.15%, respectively). No significant changes were seen in viability, morphology or DNA structure of spermatozoa in each group. Testosterone levels did not show any significant changes in the treated groups when compared with the controls.
Since a significant temporary immobility of spermatozoa without any adverse effects on other sperm characteristics occurred upon the administration of Ruta graveolens L. aqueous extract, it seems that this plant might have the potential to be used for the suggested male contraception.
世界人口增长是本世纪严重且具有威胁性的问题之一。因此，找到安全有效的避孕方法至关重要，尤其是对于在这方面选择有限的男性而言。古代用于避孕的药用植物可能是该领域良好的研究来源。芸香是伊朗传统医学中引入的一种植物，用作性交前口服的男性避孕药。在本研究中，我们试图探究该植物对雄性大鼠精子的可能影响。
将芸香水提取物（5克/千克）口服给予五组雄性大鼠，在半小时、1小时、2小时、4小时和6小时后检查精子活力。此外，一组大鼠作为对照组。随后，对精子活力显著降低的处理组评估细胞活力（伊红 - 黑色素染色）、形态变化（Diff - Quick染色）、DNA状态（吖啶橙染色）和血清睾酮水平。为进行统计分析，采用学生t检验和带有Tukey事后检验的单因素方差分析对组间进行比较。
与对照组相比，给药1小时后，各病例组精子活力显著降低（分别为36%和68.15%，p<0.01）。此后活力逐渐增加，到6小时时，与对照组相同（分别为65.43%和68.15%）。每组精子的活力、形态或DNA结构均未观察到显著变化。与对照组相比，处理组的睾酮水平未显示任何显著变化。
由于给予芸香水提取物后精子出现显著的暂时不动，且对其他精子特征无任何不良影响，看来这种植物可能有潜力用于建议的男性避孕。
