Design of the Work
Herein, sixty male albino rats were allotted into six groups, (ten rats
each).
Group 1: Rats received free tap water orally for 8 weeks and
served as control group.
Group 2: Rats received acrylamide in a daily dose of (35 mg
/kg) (Friedman, 2003) for 8 weeks.
Acrylamide was dissolved in drinking water, and the estimated daily
intake of water was about 10 mg/100g rat as previously reported
(Slone et al., 2012); this group
served as the model.
Group 3: Rats were administered TQ dissolved in 10% DMSO and
water (15 mg /kg, IP) (Tavakkoli, Ahmadi,
Razavi, & Hosseinzadeh, 2017), twice weekly for 8 weeks.
Group 4: Rats were administered capsaicin dissolved in 10%
DMSO and water (10 mg/kg, PO) once daily for 8 weeks
(Shimeda et al., 2005).
Group 5: Rats challenged with acrylamide were administered TQ
dissolved in 10% DMSO and water (15 mg/kg, IP) twice weekly for 8
weeks.
Group 6: Rats challenged with acrylamide were administered by
oral gavage capsaicin (10 mg/kg) dissolved in 10% DMSO and water once
daily for 8 weeks.
Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, retro-orbital blood samples
were withdrawn under light ether anesthesia using heparinized
microcapillaries (Optilab, Berlin, Germany). The serum was separated by
centrifugation at 4000 rpm at 4°C using cooling centrifuge (Haereus
Biofuge, Berlin, Germany). Serum was then stored at -70°C until use for
the assessment of biochemical parameters (testosterone, follicle
stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH)). After terminal
bleeding, the animals were euthanized by cervical dislocation and their
testes as well as cauda epididymides were dissected out, washed with
saline, blotted dry on filter papers, and weighed to determine the
relative testicular body weight.
The cauda epididymides were processed for gaining the seminal fluid. The
fluid was used to assess sperm count and motility as well as the
incidence of head and tail abnormalities. Right testes were homogenized
in ice-cold 0.15 M KC1 (w/v) and the homogenate was used for
investigation of the following biochemical parameters. Some of the left
testes were preserved in Boiun’s solution and used thereafter for
histopathological investigation. Histological specimens were used for
immunohistochemical localization of NF-κB /p65 and immunofluorescent
detection of occludin.