Yeni Yesim, Cicek Betul, Hacimuftuoglu Ahmet, Ozkaraca Mustafa, Mokhtare Behzad
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Malatya Turgut Ozal University, Battalgazi, 44210, Malatya, Turkey.
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Erzincan Binali Yildirim University, Erzincan, Turkey.
Mol Neurobiol. 2025 Jun 2. doi: 10.1007/s12035-025-05116-9.
Panax ginseng (PG) is a medicinal plant used for many years to treat many diseases. The current study aimed to investigate the possible prophylactic and therapeutic effects of PG extract on doxorubicin (DOX)-induced testicular toxicity in rats. 32 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250 g) were used in the experiment. The experimental groups were designed as control (normal saline, intraperitoneal), DOX (18 mg/kg, intraperitoneal), PG (200 mg/kg, gavage), and PG + DOX (200 mg/kg, gavage). After treatment, serum levels of testosterone, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), glutathione (GSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), catalase (CAT), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured. Then, gene expression, histopathological, and immunohistochemical analyses were performed on testicular tissues. Compared to DOX, treatment with PG + DOX showed a significant improvement in serum levels of FSH, testosterone, LH, TNF-α, IL-1β, MDA, SOD, LDH, GSH, and CAT. It was also observed that PG + DOX decreased nuclear factor-κB and cyclooxygenase-2 expression levels, increased androgen receptor expression, restored testicular histopathological structure, and significantly improved spermatogenesis. The results of the present study showed that PG may have an ameliorative effect against DOX-induced male reproductive toxicity, as DOX causes male reproductive toxicity. It can be concluded that PG is one of the effects that protect against DOX-induced testicular toxicity in rats by reducing lipid peroxidation and activating the antioxidant system. In light of this information, PG may be a useful agent to prevent the testicular toxicity observed in men receiving DOX treatment.
人参是一种多年来用于治疗多种疾病的药用植物。本研究旨在探讨人参提取物对阿霉素（DOX）诱导的大鼠睾丸毒性的可能预防和治疗作用。实验使用了32只成年雄性Sprague-Dawley大鼠（体重200 - 250克）。实验组设计为对照组（腹腔注射生理盐水）、DOX组（腹腔注射18毫克/千克）、PG组（灌胃200毫克/千克）和PG + DOX组（灌胃200毫克/千克）。治疗后，检测血清中睾酮、白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）、谷胱甘肽（GSH）、黄体生成素（LH）、超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）、过氧化氢酶（CAT）、卵泡刺激素（FSH）、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和丙二醛（MDA）的水平。然后，对睾丸组织进行基因表达、组织病理学和免疫组织化学分析。与DOX组相比，PG + DOX组治疗后血清中FSH、睾酮、LH、TNF-α、IL-1β、MDA、SOD、LDH、GSH和CAT水平有显著改善。还观察到PG + DOX组降低了核因子-κB和环氧化酶-2的表达水平，增加了雄激素受体的表达，恢复了睾丸组织病理学结构，并显著改善了精子发生。本研究结果表明，由于DOX会导致雄性生殖毒性，人参可能对DOX诱导的雄性生殖毒性具有改善作用。可以得出结论，人参通过减少脂质过氧化和激活抗氧化系统，是预防大鼠DOX诱导睾丸毒性的有效物质之一。根据这些信息，人参可能是预防接受DOX治疗男性睾丸毒性的有用药物。
