Effect of Maclura pomifera Extract on Cisplatin-Induced Damages in Reproductive System of Male Rats

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of maclura pomifera (MP) (known as cytotoxic, anti-tumoural, anti-inflammatoric, antinociceptive, and anti-oxidative) extract upon the spermatological parameters in Cisplatin (anti-tumoural chemotherapeutic with Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-generating side-effects)-treated rats. A total of seventeen male Sprague Dawley rats, aged eight weeks and weighing 250-300 g, were used. Three experimental groups were assigned, as follows; Group 1 (n=5) as control (C): the animals received intraperitoneal (IP) injection of physiological saline and further saline via oral gavage during 5 days before and after the injection, Group 2 (n=6): single IP injection of 7 mg/kg Cisplatin (CP) and saline via oral gavage as above, and Group 3 (n=6): referred as MP + CP, oral administration of 500 mg/kg/day MP extract during 5 days before and after cisplatin (CP) injection, as above. At the end of the experiment, rats were decapitated and their testes and cauda epididymis weights as well as epididymal sperm parameters were analysed. The CP administration caused a significant (P<0.05) decline in sperm motility and density, with a significant increase in dead spermatozoa. The MP + CP combination also led to a significant decline (P<0.05) in the weights of total cauda epididymis and of testes, but significantly improved (P<0.05) sperm survival as compared to the CP alone. In conclusion; the findings suggested that the MP plus CP combination had an adverse effect upon the total weights of testes and cauda epididymis, however the dead sperm rate was markedly lower than the CP alone.