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
This study designed to evaluate the deleterious effects of iron overloaded on organs weights , enzyme activity of liver and bilirubin, iron concentration, total iron binding capacity in serum and on bone marrow cells proliferation in mice.
The obtained results showed non significant differences in organ weights (spleen and kidney) in group 1 that treated with three parts extracts of pomegranate except the decreasing in spleen weight subgroup 1-4 , significant increasing in liver and kidney weight in all animals treated with iron dextran (group 2) in comparison with their weights of organs in negative control (group 1). While significant increasing in iron concentrations in serum of animal administrated peel and juice in comparison wit
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
... 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
... Show MoreThis study involved the treatment of textile wastewater contaminated with direct blue 15 dye (DB15) using a heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like process. Bimetallic iron/copper nanoparticles loaded on bentonite clay were used as heterogeneous catalysts and prepared via liquid-phase reduction method using eucalyptus leaves extract (E-Fe/Cu@BNPs). Characterization methods were applied to resultant particles (NPs), including SEM, BET, and FTIR techniques. The prepared NPs were found with porous and spherical shapes with a specific surface area of particles was 28.589 m2/g. The effect of main parameters on the photo-Fenton-like degradation of DB15 was investigated through batch and continuous fixed-bed systems. In batch mode, pH, H2O2 dosage, DB15 c
... Show MoreThe results of this study showed that the tongue of the adult Iraqi domestic cat is divided into three regions of apex, body and root. The dorsal surface of all regions possesses five types of lingual papillae, two mechanical which are filiform and cylindrical papillae, while the other three types are taste papillae which are foliate, fungiform and circumvallate papillae, while these papillae are absent on its ventral surface. The histological examination of all tongue areas revealed that it consisted of three tunica, the tunica mucosa and the tunica submucosa (the lamina propria) and the tunica muscularis. The tunica mucosa consisted of the epithelial lining, which is a stratified squamous epithelial tissue covering the lingual papillae, a
... Show MoreThis 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 MoreLead acetate as one of the environmental pollutants can threats the life of living creatures in many ways, it has a long half-life, accumulates mainly in the soft tissue and leads to adverse effects in these tissues. An experiment was conducted to study the effect of oral feeding of lead acetate on histological features of liver, kidney, testis and muscle of albino mice. Mice were treated with 0.05 mg/100 ml lead acetate (LA) for 10 days (group A) and for and for 20 days (group B) and for 30 days (group C). The histological section of liver of mice group A characterized by slightly blurred trabecular structure with foci of hepatitis which increased with cytoplasmic vacules in group B but in group C liver reveal necrosis, heamorrhage,
... Show MoreSince the inflammatory factor IL-6 known by its critical role in different metabolic reactions in the
body, therefore, this study was designed to detect it is effect in the thyroid gland function by
injecting three groups of rats, the first with IL-6 , the second with carbimazole (antithyroid drug) and
the third with normal saline (Control).The experiment included three groups of rat; each was injected
with recombinant human interleukin-6 (rhIL-6), Carbimazole, or normal saline (Control). The results
of experiments showed that both IL-6 and carbimazole caused a decrease in the levels of thyroid
hormones (T3 and T4) in animal sera, and a significant decrease in animal body weight, but had no
effect on the liver weight
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
... Show MoreBackground: Breast cancer composed of several biologic subtypes that have response to hormonal therapy. Tamoxifen is hormonal therapy with tissue- pecific antagonistic or agonist effects, the latter being responsible for multiple effects on lipid metabolism in women .
Objective: This study was designed to determine the impact of Tamoxifen on the serum lipid profile in breast cancer women.
Patients and methods: Prospective observation cohort study conducted at Oncology Teaching Hospital, Medical city complx.starting from October 2015 to October 2016. A total number of 40 premenopausal women with breast cancer were enrolled in this
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