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 reaction oisolated and characterized by elemental analysis (C,H,N) , 1H-NMR, mass spectra and Fourier transform (Ft-IR). The reaction of the (L-AZD) with: [VO(II), Cr(III), Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II)], has been investigated and was isolated as tri nuclear cluster and characterized by: Ft-IR, U. v- Visible, electrical conductivity, magnetic susceptibilities at 25 Co, atomic absorption and molar ratio. Spectroscopic evidence showed that the binding of metal ions were through azide and carbonyl moieties resulting in a six- coordinating metal ions in [Cr (III), Mn (II), Co (II) and Ni (II)]. The Vo (II), Cu (II), Zn (II), Cd (II) and Hg (II) were coordinated through azide group only forming square pyramidal
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Sami Michael and Eli Amir - two Israeli writers born in Iraq and of the same generation (Sami Makhail was born in Baghdad in 1926 and Eli Amir in 1937). They wrote in their novels, among other things, about Orientalism , love and femininity. They both lived wild, extroverted lives. They did not shy away from experiencing anything new that came their way, rebelled against conventions and acted provocatively; they enjoyed the shock and amazement that evoked around them. While trying to find their place in different family settings, they chose to present two Arab Christian heroines. The narrator in Jasmine is the speaker Noori-Eli himself. While the narrator of “Trumpet in the Wadi” is Huda the heroine herself. Both ar
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