Abstract:
The present study was conducted to investigate the possible protective effects of lycopene (LP) and ellagic acid
(EA) on aroclor (AR) 1254-induced testicular and spermatozoal toxicity associated with the oxidative stress and apoptosis in
male rats. The control group was treated with placebo. LP (10 mg ⁄ kg ⁄ every other day), EA (2 mg ⁄ kg ⁄ every other day) and
AR (2 mg⁄ kg ⁄ day) groups were given alone LP, EA and AR respectively. One of the last two groups received AR + LP, and
the other treated with AR + EA. Body and reproductive organ weights, epididymal sperm characteristics, testicular tissue
lipid peroxidation levels, antioxidant enzyme activities, histopathological changes and apoptosis via Bax and Bcl-2 genes were
investigated. AR administration caused statistically significant decreases in body-weight, epididymal sperm concentration, testicular
superoxide dismutase activity, diameters of seminiferous tubules, germinal cell layer thickness and Johnsen’s testicular
score, and increases in relative weights of testis, epidydimis and seminal vesicles, rates of abnormal sperm and apoptotic cell
expression along with degeneration, desquamation and disorganization in spermatogenic cells, and interstitial oedema and
congestion in testicular tissue. LP and EA treatments to AR-treated rats markedly decreased abnormal sperm rates, testicular
thiobarbituric acid reactive substances level, and increased the glutathione (GSH) level, GSH-peroxidase, catalase activities
and epidiymal sperm concentration as compared with the alone AR group. Additionally, the AR-induced histopathological
damages were totally or partially recovered by LP or EA administrations respectively. AR damages the testicular tissue and
spermatozoa by impairing the oxidant ⁄ antioxidant balance and by increasing the apoptotic spermatogenic cell rates. However,
both LP and EA have modulator effects on AR-induced reproductive dysfunction in male rats
