Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
Andrologia. 2019 Oct;51(9):e13348. doi: 10.1111/and.13348. Epub 2019 Jun 26.
Both epilepsy and valproate (VPA), as an antiepileptic drug, negatively affect male sexual function. The present study was conducted to evaluate the ameliorating impacts of ginseng on sperm quality, architecture of seminiferous epithelium and spermatogenic cell apoptosis in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) animal model treated with VPA. Fifty-six adult male rats were divided into seven groups including untreated control (Co), epilepsy (E), valproate (V), epilepsy-valproate (EV), epilepsy-ginseng (EG), valproate-ginseng (VG) and epilepsy-valproate-ginseng (EVG). Animals received daily intraperitoneal injections of valproate and ginseng for 30 days. We observed a significant decline in bilateral testes' weight and sperm counts, along with reduction in normal morphology in the EV group. Ginseng sharply improved both sperm counts and spermatozoa with normal morphology in EVG animals. Although sperm motility decreased in V and EV groups, ginseng ameliorated sperm motility in VG and EVG animals. Besides, VPA sharply decreased spermatogenesis quality and increased germ cell apoptosis. Finally, ginseng significantly diminished apoptosis in VG rats and improved spermatogenesis in both VG and EVG groups. In conclusion, ginseng treatment has shown a positive impact on spermatogenesis and sperm quality in TLE rats treated with VPA. Therefore, it may be a beneficial adjuvant along with VPA treatment in the epileptic patient.
癫痫和丙戊酸钠（VPA）作为抗癫痫药物，都会对男性性功能产生负面影响。本研究旨在评估人参对 VPA 治疗颞叶癫痫（TLE）动物模型的精子质量、生精上皮结构和生精细胞凋亡的改善作用。将 56 只成年雄性大鼠分为 7 组，包括未处理对照组（Co）、癫痫组（E）、丙戊酸钠组（V）、癫痫-丙戊酸钠组（EV）、癫痫-人参组（EG）、丙戊酸钠-人参组（VG）和癫痫-丙戊酸钠-人参组（EVG）。动物每日接受腹腔注射丙戊酸钠和人参 30 天。我们观察到 EV 组双侧睾丸重量和精子计数显著下降，正常形态精子减少。人参显著提高了 EVG 动物的精子计数和正常形态精子比例。尽管 V 和 EV 组的精子运动能力下降，但人参改善了 VG 和 EVG 动物的精子运动能力。此外，VPA 显著降低了精子发生质量并增加了生殖细胞凋亡。最后，人参显著减少了 VG 大鼠的凋亡，并改善了 VG 和 EVG 组的精子发生。总之，人参治疗对 VPA 治疗的 TLE 大鼠的精子发生和精子质量有积极影响。因此，它可能是癫痫患者与 VPA 治疗联合应用的有益辅助药物。
