Authors
1
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Sciences, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran; Infertility Research and Clinical Center, Shahid Sadoughi Medical Sciences University, Yazd, Iran
2
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical Sciences, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran
3
IVF laboratory of Arash Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background: Increase in world population is one of the serious and threatening issues in this century. Therefore, it is vitally important to find safe and effective contraceptive methods, especially for men which already have few choices in this regard. Medicinal plants that were used for contraception in ancient times could be good sources of investigation in this filed. Ruta graveolens L. is one the plants introduced in the Iranian traditional medicine as an oral male contraception to be used before intercourse. In this study we tried to investigate the probable effects of the plant on the spermatozoa of male rats. Methods: Ruta graveolens L. aqueous extract (5 g/kg) was administered orally to five groups of male rats and sperm motility was checked after half, one, two, four and six hours later. Moreover, one group of rats served as the control group. Subsequently, viability of cells (Eosin-Nigrosin staining), morphological changes (Diff-Quick staining), DNA status (acridine orange dye) and serum testosterone levels were assessed in the treated groups which had significant immotile spermatozoa. For statistical analysis, Student’s t-test and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test were employed for comparison between groups. Results: A significant reduction in sperm motility was seen one hour after administration of the extract in the case groups compared to the controls (36% vs. 68.15%, respectively, p
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