Department of Life Sciences, School of Basic Science, Libyan Academy of Postgraduate Studies, Janzour, Libya.
Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, University of Tripoli, Tripoli, Libya.
Open Vet J. 2021 Jan-Mar;11(1):70-79. doi: 10.4314/ovj.v11i1.11. Epub 2021 Jan 28.
Male infertility has been on the rise since the past seven decades. Recently, in Libya, bee venom therapy (BVT) has become a popular method among alternative healthcare practitioners for treating male infertility. However, a literature search did not find any published studies that investigated the use of BVT for infertility treatment.
To investigate the effect of bee venom on the male reproductive status through measurements of semen quality parameters and testicular histological changes in adult male mice.
A total of 48 male mice were randomly divided into three experimental groups (which were subdivided into two subgroups with eight mice each) as follows: control, bee venom sting (BVS), and bee venom injection (BVI). The normal control subgroup mice were not subjected to any treatment, while the vehicle control subgroup mice were injected (i.p.) with 200 μl of 0.9% saline solution. In the BVS-treated subgroups, each mouse was stung by one live bee for five times (BVS-5) or seven times (BVS-7) every third day for 2 or 3 weeks. While each mouse in the BVI-treated subgroups received 23 μg/kg in a dose volume of 200 μl BVIs (i.p.) for five times (BVI-5) or seven times (BVI-7) every third day for 15 or 21 days.
The findings of this study showed that repeated bee venom treatment by sting or injection to adult male mice resulted in a significant decline in testosterone levels, sperm count, sperm motility, and a very significant increase in the percentage of abnormal sperm morphology; also, there were harmful testicular histological changes in the structural organization of seminiferous tubules and degenerative changes in the germinal epithelium compared to control group.
The results of this study provide evidence for the low semen quality and adverse testicular histological changes in male mice treated with bee venom. Hence, there is a desperate need for educating alternative healthcare practitioners and infertile couples about the harmful effects of BVT on reproductive status.
自过去七十年来，男性不育症的发病率一直在上升。最近，在利比亚，蜂毒疗法（BVT）已成为替代医疗从业者治疗男性不育的一种流行方法。然而，文献检索未发现任何已发表的研究调查 BVT 用于治疗不育症。
通过测量成年雄性小鼠的精液质量参数和睾丸组织学变化，研究蜂毒对男性生殖状况的影响。
将 48 只雄性小鼠随机分为三组实验（每组再分为两组，每组 8 只）：对照组、蜂毒蜇伤（BVS）组和蜂毒注射（BVI）组。正常对照组小鼠未进行任何处理，而载体对照组小鼠则腹腔注射 200μl 0.9%生理盐水。在 BVS 处理组中，每组小鼠每隔三天被一只活蜂蜇刺 5 次（BVS-5）或 7 次（BVS-7），共 2 或 3 周。而在 BVI 处理组中，每组小鼠每隔三天腹腔注射 23μg/kg 的蜂毒 5 次（BVI-5）或 7 次（BVI-7），共 15 或 21 天。
本研究发现，反复对成年雄性小鼠进行蜂毒蜇刺或注射治疗，会导致睾酮水平、精子计数、精子活力显著下降，精子形态异常率显著升高；与对照组相比，睾丸组织学结构的生精小管组织和生殖上皮退化也有明显变化。
本研究结果为雄性小鼠经蜂毒治疗后精液质量下降和睾丸组织学变化不良提供了证据。因此，迫切需要教育替代医疗从业者和不育夫妇关于 BVT 对生殖状况的有害影响。
