Effect of Vitamin C on Male Fertility in Rats Subjected to Forced Swimming Stress

Introduction: Stress is defined as a general body response to initially threatening external or internal demands, involving the mobilization of physiological and psychological resources to deal with them. Recently, oxidative stress has become the focus of interest as a potential cause of male infertility. Normally, equilibrium exists between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and antioxidant scavenging activities in the male reproductive organs. The ascorbic acid is a known antioxidant present in the testis with the precise role of protecting the latter from the oxidative damage. It also contributes to the support of spermatogensis at least in part through its capacity to maintain antioxidant in an active state. Materials and Methods: Group1: Normal Control animal received Distilled water, Group 2: Positive control (Only Stress), Group 3: Normal rats received an intermediate dose of Vitamin C (20mg/kg/day), Group 4: Stress + Low dose Vitamin C (10mg/ kg/day), Group 5: Stress+ Intermediate dose Vitamin C (20mg/ kg/day), Group 6: High dose Vitamin C (30mg/kg/day). On 16th day effect of stress on body weight, Reproductive organ weight, sperm parameters, and hormonal assay was studied. Results: In the present context, in stress group the sperm count, motility, testicular weight declined significantly. The intermediate dose and high dose of vitamin C showed significantly increased effect on the sperm count and motility. Conclusion: Various physiological changes produced force swimming indicates that swimming is an effective model for producing stress in albino rats. The results suggest that Vitamin C supplementation improves the stress induced reproductive infertility due to both their testosterone increase effect and their antioxidant effect.