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Thymoquinone and N-acetylcysteine treatment against Uranium-induced testicular damage in rats

Research Authors
Waly H, Ragab SMM, Hassanein KMA, , AbouKhalil NS, Ahmed EA
Research Abstract

Uranyl acetate (UA), a commercial stock from depleted uranium (DU), has a combined effect of chemical toxicity and mild radioactivity. Here, we investigated the potential antioxidant, antiapoptotic and cytoprotective effects of thymoquinone (TQ) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) against UA-induced testicular damage in rats. UA reduced testicular superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and nitric oxide (NO) and glutathione (GSH) levels relative to the control group. Interestingly, the testicular SOD activity and NO and GSH levels of UA/TQ-and UA/NAC-treated groups were also significantly lower relative to the control. A marked increase in spermatocytes metaphase apoptosis was found (stage XIII) in UA-treated rats, which is probably due to difficulties in segregation of homologous-chromosomes. This may clarify why UA exposure decreased round spermatids numbers and fertility in previous studies. To check the reason of partial metaphase arrest, the presence of DNA-damage-related γ-H2AX foci in late spermatocytes of all groups was checked, but only insignificant increase was found in UA-treated group. TQ or NAC supplementation reduced the apoptosis and improved the testicular histological alterations. Thus, TQ and NAC attenuate UA adverse effects on the testicular microenvironment through anti-apoptotic and cytoprotective but not antioxidant effects.

Research Department
Research Journal
General physiology and biophysics
Research Publisher
Institute of Molecular Physiology and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences
Research Rank
1
Research Vol
38
Research Website
http://www.gpb.sav.sk
Research Year
2019
Research Pages
145–155