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
The present study aimed to investigate the anatomical and histological, aspects of the stomach in two different Iraqi birds, (common wood pigeon, Columba palumbus (herbivorous) and the barn owl, Tyto alba (carnivorous). Stomach in the two studied birds IS divided into two parts, glandular or true stomach (proventriculus) and the muscular stomach or gizzard (ventriculus). Proventriculus in the common wood pigeon appeared as fusiform shaped tube and separated from the gizzard by isthmus while in the barn owl, it was pearsshaped , wider and shorter than that of the common wood pigeon and not separated from the gizzard by isthmus. In common wood pigeon, gizzard appeared as biconvex lens lining with yellowish green tissue, the koilin , while
... Show MoreThe liver (hepatic) is one of the largest glands or organs of the digestive system in the body of living organisms, including rodents, take the squirrel in this study for example. The study and the collection of sources emerged to be put into the hands of those, especially those interested in histological studies, including junior or professionals and veterinarians, knowledge of the stains used in the research and their final results.
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The current study was designed to identify the histological composition of the ileum in the Caucasian squirrel Sciurus anomalus. Ten adult squirrels were used for the present study. Animals were anesthetized, anatomized, fixed the study specimens in 10% formalin solution, and conducted a series of histological staining techniques. The ileum consists of four main tunicae represented by mucosa, submucosa, muscularis, and serosa. The tunica mucosa consists of three secondary layers: the epithelial lining layer, lamina propria, and muscularis mucosa. The epithelial lining comprises simple columnar epithelial tissue composed of columnar cells and goblet cells. The lamina propria contains simple straight tubular glands called the int
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A histological study was conducted to examine the structure of Cerebellum in Coturnix coturnix (Linnaeus). The results showed that the cerebellum is a portion of the Rhombencephalon and Metencephalon lying behind the cerebrum, the surface of the cerebellum contains deep folds and appears spherical in its shape. It represented the dorsal side of metencephalon and surrounded the roof of IV ventricle. The cerebellum consists of three parts spino cerebellum, cerebro cerebelluum and vestibulo cerebellum; and three lobes anterior lobe, posterior lobe and flocculonodular lobe. The corpus cerebellum (Vermis) consists of nine folds called cerebellar-folia (IX-I) and separated from each other by sulci.  
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The objective of this study was to evaluate the alteration in levels of gonado trophins hormones i.e.,Leutizing (LH),Follicular(FSH) in sera of patients with thyroid disorders and molecular binding study of (LH ,FSH) with their antibodies The study was conducted at the specialized center for endocrinology and diabetes from January / 2009 to March / 2010.Two hundreds and twenty three Iraqi subjects, 109 patients with thyroid disorders at age range between (40-50) years and 114 healthy individuals as control group were included in this study.The majority of patients were female with hyperthyroidism and (49.54 % ) were at age range between(40 - 50) years. The levels of hormones(LH,FSH.tri iodothyronine(T3).thyroxine(T4), thy
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Breast tumor patients generally have more oxidative stress than normal females. This was clear from significant decrease (P<0.05) in tissue GSSG-Red activity. The study had found that free radicals in malignant breast tumors were higher than benign tumors, therefore the GSH- Red might be used as markers for prognosis of the disease. Results of molecular characterization show optimum enzyme concentration substrate conc., optimum pH, temperature & time & effect of some (chemotherapies in constant conectrations) for GSSG-Red activity.
The present study aimed to explain the dose-dependent possible deleterious effects of 30 day administration of Tramadol on some hematological and biochemical parameters of laboratory male rats (Rattus norvegicus), the study consisted of eighteen adult male rats randomly divided into three equal groups (each of six). Group 1 (control) were treated by intraperitoneal injection of normal saline solution (0.2 ml), group two (low dose) was treated by intraperitonealy (i.p) injection of Tramadol at a dose of 50 mg/kg/day, group three (high dose) was treated by intraperitonealy injection of Tramadol at a dose of 100 mg/kg/day for 30 days. At the end of experimental period, rats were sacrificed. Blood were collected by cardiac puncture to inv
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The polymers modified Poly(vinyl chloride) differ in their tendency to photo oxidation comparing with that unmodified. It has been studied Photostability for modified Poly(vinyl chloride) chains using Schiff’s bases derivative of (5-amino-1, 3, 4-thiadiazole-2-thiol) in a manner casting of plastic chips with thickness (40) in a solvent Tetrahydrofuran. It has been determined the effectiveness Photostability of these modified polymers through the photo degradation rate constant for photostabilizer (kd) for the modified Poly (vinyl chloride). Attributed efficiency of these Poly(vinyl chloride) chips in Photostability by replace the atom Cl Poly(vinyl chloride) chains ends more stable than light stabilizer.
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