ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Estrogens has traditionally been known as the female hormone, but this idea has been challenged in early 1990’s and an essential physiological role for estrogen in male fertility was identified. Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring non-steroidal plant chemicals that can act like the female hormone estrogen. The herbs ( anise alfalfa and vervain ) chosen in this study contain phytoestrogens. OBJECTIVE: Previous studies demonstrated controversy of the effects of phytoestrogens on the rat testes .Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the influence of typical dose of herbs containing phytoestrogen on the rat testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four apparently normal mature male rats were divided into four groups of 6 animals each. The first "control" group received only 4ml of distilled water as a placebo. The second group received 40mg/kg of anise seed; the third group received 53.3 mg/kg of dried herb of vervain and the fourth group received 400 mg /kg of alfalfa seeds. All experimental groups received the doses through orogastric tube daily for fourteen days. Testicular histology was evaluated by light and enzyme histochemistry. Plasma FSH and testosterone concentrations were taken to support our results. RESULTS: Histological examination of anise, alfalfa and vervain – treated groups showed an increase in the height of germinal epithelia. There was marked lipoprotein lipase activity in the whole of the interstitial tissue which is more in amount in experimental groups than that in control group. Acid phosphatase granules were infiltered the seminiferous epithelia mildly in control group , moderately in anise and vervain groups and markedly in alfalfa group. The number of interstitial cells showing marked acid phosphatase activity was higher in all experimental groups than that in control group. Alkaline phosphatase exhibited intense activity in the boundary tissue of the seminiferous tubules in testes of control and experimental groups but it appeared thicker in the latter. CONCLUSION: The low dose and short duration of treatment used in our study made these phytoestrogen – containing herbs to have a stimulatory effect on leydig cell steroidogenesis. This study also demonstrated that aniseed being the most potent of the three herbs followed by alfalfa in stimulating testosterone synthesis. This is possibly attributed to the coumarin constituent of aniseed and alfalfa. KEY WORDS: phytoestrogen-containing herbs, testis, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lipoprotein lipase
Asthma is a chronic in?ammatory respiratory disease associated with the changes of asthmatic airway structural that result from interact remodeling and in?ammatory processes lead to obstruction of airway. Guggulsterone (GS) is a bioactive compound and plant steroid present in guggul gum of Commiphora wightii, which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. This study designed to investigate of anti-inflammatory activity of gugglsterone in improvement of asthma. Forty eight healthy albino male rats divided to six groups, Group I: Control group (distal water), Group II: Positive control group (distal water) with sensitization, Group III: Guggulsterone (25 mg/kg/day) with sens
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This study aimed to synthesize a novel amide prodrug of metformin with aspirin by amide bond. The structure was characterized by (FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and CHNO) ,Purification of the prepared compound was using column chromatography. Using of 40 rabbit having the same weight and devided into 4 groups (4x10) the first group (G1): (the control healthy group) was given drink water and didn’t give any material, second group(G2):( the control infected group) was given hydrogen peroxide concentration % 0.5 until infecting diabetes mellitus, third group(G3): was given hydrogen peroxide concentration as in (G2) and ( 250 mg/kg) of aspirin and (348.8 mg/kg
... Show MoreBackground: The occurrence of seizures in bacterial meningitis is important, as it has been reported to increase the risk of complications; however, its frequency and predictors are not well studied yet. Objective: To assess the frequency, clinical, and biochemical predictors of seizures in children with acute bacterial meningitis. Method: A cross-sectional study recruited confirmed acute bacterial meningitis cases based on positive CSF culture and sensitivity among children aged 2 months to 15 years admitted to the Central Child Teaching Hospital emergency department in Iraq. Patients were divided into two groups based on seizure at presentation time. Demographic characteristics [age, gender, residence, duration of fever and disease, prese
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The study was carried out in order to evaluate clinically and laboratory cachectic animals suffering from anemia. Animal examined were 50 cow and calf. The study include clinical, hemato and biochemical test for accurate diagnosis of cachexia in cows and calves . Blood smears were conducted for detection of blood parasites , fecal examination for gastrointestinal parasites and Different parameters were applied for classification of cachexia , depending on bony projection specially ribs and pelvic and generalized muscular atrophy. However , The study revealed an incidence of cachexia and anemia of blood parasites was including Theileria, Anaplasma, gastrointestinal parasites, ten cases were shown foreign body syndrome while other tens wer
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Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most frequent endocrinal disease commonly associated with thyroid disorders .The study is conducted at the Specialized Center for Endocrinology and Diabetes in Baghdad ,during December 2014 up to October 2015.This study was done to investigate the prevalence of anti- thyroid peroxidase (Anti-TPO) antibody in patients suffered from type 2 diabetes with thyroid disorders .The study groups included a total number of 80 subjects consisting of 60 type 2 diabetic patients divided into 20 hyperthyroidism subjects (group 1) ,20 hypothyroidism subjects (group 2), 20 euthyroidism subjects (group 3) and 20 healthy controls (group 4) . The fasting blood samples were analyzed for (T3,T4,TSH) by using Vitek Immuno d
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Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential effects of ascorbic acid or and pyridoxine on diabetic renal microalbumiuria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on patients with diabetes mellitus at Al-Yarmouk teaching hospital from January to December 2012, Iraq-Baghdad. Twenty one patients with diabetes mellitus (D.M), 8 IDDM and 13 IDDM were selected from, the duration of disease were ranged from 2-12 years for both type (10 females and 11males) and all enrolled patients ages were ranged from 28-65years. The concentration of total protein in urine was calculated by a biuret colorimetric assay and the urine creatinine level was measured by a modified Jaffe test. Statistical analysis: results are expressed as mean
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The morphological description and histological structure of the
olfactory organ of Parasilurus triostegus (Heckel) have been
investigated. The olfactory organ situated on the dorsal surface of the
head infront of the eye.
It is represented by elongated olfactory sac, in which the
olfactory Lamellae arranged as Rosette- like pattern .
The olfactory sac connected with the olfactory bulb by short olfactory nerve. The olfactory bulb which situated near the olfactory sac connected wi
... Show More A histological study was conducted to examine the structure of rhombencephalon (Cerebellum) in Columba livia gaddi (Gmeiin, 1789). The result showed that the cerebellum is aportion of the brain lying behind the cerebrum, the surface of the cerebellum contains deep folds. The cerebellum consists of two regions a cerebellar cortex that is called gray matter composed of three major layers from the outside to the inside, as follows: molecular layer, Purkinje cells layer and granular layer, the second region of cerebellum called medulla. This is the white matter.