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
Histological study of the cerebellum in a bird white cheeked bulbul Pycnonotus lecucotis, the result of the study showed that the cerebellum took the parts of the hindbrain, the histological study of the cerebellum revealed the presence of deep folds on its surface. The cerebellum consists of two areas, the cerebellar cortex, which is called the gray matter, which consists of three layers: the outer layer (the molecular layer), the middle (Purkinje cells) and inner layer (the granular layer). The second area of the cerebellum is called the medullary and the white matter.
Background : It had been indentified by histological, histochemical and morphometrical studies that peganum harmala is a mammogenic herb and borage officinalis is a lactogenic one . To complete our investigation about these two herbs , we performed electron microscopical study.
Materials and methods : Rats were grouped according to their physiological status into three groups . Each group was subdivided in to three subgroups : one control and two experimental . The two experimental group were treated daily; the 1st one with an aqueous extract of peganum harmala seeds and the 2nd with an aqueous extract of borage officinalis flowers . After two weeks of treatment , mammary glands were employed for electron
Background : It had been indentified by histological, histochemical and morphometrical studies that peganum harmala is a mammogenic herb and borage officinalis is a lactogenic one . To complete our investigation about these two herbs , we performed electron microscopical study . Materials and methods : Rats were grouped according to their physiological status into three groups . Each group was subdivided in to three subgroups : one control and two experimental . The two experimental group were treated daily; the 1st one with an aqueous extract of peganum harmala seeds and the 2nd with an aqueous extract of borage officinalis flowers . After two weeks of treatment , mammary glands were employed for electron microscopical study . Resu
... Show MoreIn this study, the potential combined effects of silver (AgNPs) and silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2NPs) on male albino mice which were exposed intraperitoneally to the 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg and mixed concentrations of nanoparticles (NPs) for periods of 2 and 4 weeks, were evaluated. The evaluation was performed by examining the haematological and biochemical parameters, in addition to the bioaccumulation of NPs in the liver and kidney. The results showed that the platelets count significantly increased in all exposed groups, while red blood cell count (RBCs) decreased in most exposed groups. White blood cells (WBCs) and haemoglobin (Hb) showed different levels in the exposed groups. Serum aspartate aminotransfera
... Show MoreHepatitis-B (HBV) is a viral disease cause liver damage, cirrhosis, fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Present study attempted to elucidate the biochemical and haematological markers other than Australia antigen, of hepatitis,B,vairusV (HBsAg) for better assessment of HBV infection. The present study was conducted on 76 men, 50 of them were found to be HBeAg positive and 26 were negative, mean age was53±5.7years. Haematological parameters such as Absolute Erythrocyte( Abs Eryt), Absolute Leukocyte(Abs Leuk) , Haemoglobin(Hb), Packed Cell Volume(PCV),Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW), Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH),MCH Concentration(MCHC) ,Neutrophi
... Show MoreThis study aimed to determine histological and functional effects of Galangin (Gal) conjugated with Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the Kidneys male albino mice treated with CCL4. Gold nanoparticles were prepared chemically by Turkevich Method. Characterizing of the prepared AuNPs and AuNPs+Gal was carried out using UV Spectrophotometry, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and particle size,. For the in vivo study, 42 adult male albino mice were used and randomly distributed into seven groups and experiment extended for 14 days, first group (G1) was control group without any treatment, (G2) group injected intra-peritoneal (i.p) with CCl4 once a week to the end of experiments, (G3) injected with AuNPs, (G4 and
... Show MoreDiesel generators are used in various locations throughout Baghdad city, central Iraq, when the public electricity power is in outage. The main purpose of the current research is to investigate possible changes in certain biochemical parameters in the blood of operators of diesel generators in different locations Baghdad city, at both Rusafa and Karkh sides. The workers were divided according to the number of working years.
Serum urea, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase (AlP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), albumin, total serum bilirubin (TSB), and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were analyzed in samples from forty wo
... Show MoreThis study was aimed to investigate the effects of Cuminum cyminum seed aqueous extract on the function and histological structure of rat kidney treated with dibutyl phthalate (DBP). Eighteen albino rats weighing 190-240g and aged 10-12 weeks were used for this study which went on for 28 days. The rats were divided into three groups (each with six animals): 1st group: control rats were given food and tap water, 2nd group was given DBP (420mg/Kg. B.W.) with tap water and diet, 3rd group were fed cumin plant orally at a daily dose of (200 mg/kg B.W.) and DBP (420mg/kg. B.W.) was given with drinking water and fed with diet daily. Kidney and liver function parameters were measured and hi
... Show MoreThe Ethanolic extracts of different Iraqi indigenous plants which belong to different families showed algicidal activity against Anabaena, Nostoc and Myxosarcina species. Peganum harmala extract was the most potent in controlling the growth of tested Cyanobacterial species