Protective effect of Qilin Pills on the reproductive function of oligoasthenospermia rats.
- Author:
Kai-Shu ZHANG
1
;
Fang ZHOU
1
;
Qi AN
2
;
Yan-Fei JIA
1
;
Long-Long FU
1
;
Wen-Hong LU
2
;
Xiao-Wei LIANG
2
;
Xue-Jun SHANG
3
;
Yi-Qun GU
1
Author Information
1. Graduate School of Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
2. Key Laboratory of National Health and Family Planning Commission for Male Reproductive Health / National Research Institute for Family Planning / WHO Collaborating Center for Research in Human Reproduction, Beijing 100081, China.
3. Department of Andrology, Jinling Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University / Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Region, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, China.
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
oligoasthenospermia;
oxidative stress;
reproductive protection;
tripterygium glycosides;
Qilin Pills
- MeSH:
Animals;
Asthenozoospermia;
chemically induced;
drug therapy;
Drugs, Chinese Herbal;
pharmacology;
Epididymis;
Follicle Stimulating Hormone;
Male;
Oligospermia;
chemically induced;
drug therapy;
Protective Agents;
pharmacology;
Random Allocation;
Rats;
Rats, Sprague-Dawley;
Reproduction;
drug effects;
Seminiferous Tubules;
Sperm Count;
Spermatozoa;
drug effects;
Superoxide Dismutase;
analysis;
Testis;
Testosterone;
blood;
Tripterygium
- From:
National Journal of Andrology
2017;23(9):821-827
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To study the protective effect of Qilin Pills (QLP) on the reproductive function of rats with oligoasthenospermia (OAS) induced by tripterygium glycosides.
METHODS:Twenty-eight male SD rats were randomly divided into a normal control, an OAS model control, a low-dose QLP, and a high-dose QLP group of equal number. OAS models were made in the latter three groups by intragastrical administration of tripterygium glycosides at 40 mg per kg of the body weight per day, and meanwhile the animals in the low- and high-dose QLP groups were treated with QLP at 1.62 and 3.24 g per kg of the body weight per day, respectively, while those in the OAS model group with normal saline, all for 30 consecutive days. Then all the rats were executed for obtaining the testis weight, testis viscera index, epididymal sperm concentration and motility, reproductive hormone levels, and antioxidation indexes and observation of the histomorphological changes of the testis tissue by HE staining.
RESULTS:After 30 days of intervention, the low- and high-dose QLP groups, as compared with the OAS model controls, showed significantly improved epididymal sperm concentration (［14.57 ± 3.95］ and ［39.71 ± 11.31］ vs ［4.71 ± 1.25］ ×10⁶/ml, P <0.05) and motility (［3.71 ± 1.11］ and ［4.29 ± 1.80］ vs ［0.57 ± 0.53］%, P <0.05), increased levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) (［94.83 ± 11.17］ and ［88.05 ± 9.21］ vs ［56.74 ± 8.29］ nmol/L, P <0.05) and free testosterone (FT) (［27.27 ± 3.63］ and ［32.80 ± 2.51］ vs ［22.81 ± 2.75］ nmol/L, P <0.05), decreased level of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) (［1.49 ± 0.62］ and ［1.12 ± 0.83］ vs ［1.71 ± 0.52］ mIU/ml, P <0.05), but no significant change in the total testosterone (TT) level. Meanwhile, the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) was markedly elevated in the low- and high-dose QLP groups in comparison with the OAS model control group (［277.14 ± 15.84］ and ［299.60 ± 20.83］ vs ［250.04 ± 31.06］ U/ml, P <0.05) while that of reactive oxygen species (ROS) remarkably reduced (［397.61 ± 62.71］ and ［376.84 ± 67.14］ vs ［552.20 ± 58.07］ IU/ml, P <0.05). HE staining showed that QLP intervention significantly increased the layers and quantity of spermatogenic cells in the testicular seminiferous tubules of the OAS rats.
CONCLUSIONS:QLP can effectively protect the reproductive system of oligoasthenospermia rats by raising sperm quality, elevating reproductive hormone levels, reducing oxidative stress injury, and improving histomorphology of the testis.
