Royal-jelly-based apitherapy can attenuate damages to male reproductive parameter following nicotine administration. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Royal-jelly-based apitherapy can attenuate damages to male reproductive parameter following nicotine administration.
Animal Model Exp Med. 2022 Mar 11. Epub 2022 Mar 11. PMID: 35274495
Mahsa Nazar-Zadeh
BACKGROUND: Nicotine administration can generate severe oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. Royal jelly, with its antioxidant properties, acts as a scavenger of reactive oxygen species. This study describes the apitherapy effects of royal jelly on testicular damage following nicotine administration.
METHODS: Forty-eight male BALB/c mice were divided into 8 groups (n = 6): saline, 3 different doses of royal jelly (100, 150, and 200 mg/kg body weight (BW) per day), nicotine (1.5 mg/kg), and 3 different groups of Nic + Roy (1.5 mg/kg of Nic + 100, 150, and 200 mg/kg BW per day of royal jelly). Nicotine was administrated intraperitoneally, androyal jelly was prescribed orally for 10 consecutive days. Serum levels of hormones (testosterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle-stimulating hormone), total antioxidant capacity, nitric oxide (NO) status, malondialdehyde levels, sperm DNA fragmentation, sperm parameters, histopathological changes (H&E staining), immunohistochemistry against apoptotic proteins, and gene expression of Bcl-2, p53, Caspase-3, and Nrf2 (real-time PCR) were assessed to evaluate the molecular and histological changes.
RESULTS: Hormone levels, sperm parameters, and status of antioxidants were decreased significantly (p < .05) following nicotine administration. Moreover, royal jelly treatment normalized hormonal and antioxidant characteristics, decreased apoptotic gene expression, increased Nfr2 gene expression, and restored histopathological alteration to the physiological status significantly (p < .05).
CONCLUSION: Royal jelly upregulates the antioxidant status, inhibits the mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis pathway, and increases the rate of proliferation. This therapeutic agent effectively protected the testis against nicotine-associated damages by antioxidant and anti-apoptotic effects.