Royal Jelly alleviates sperm toxicity and improves in vitro fertilization outcome in Stanozolol-treated mice

Background: Stanozolol (ST) is a synthetic anabolic-androgenic steroid often abused by athletes. An increasing body of evidence points towards the role of STmisuses in the pathogenesis of a wide range of adverse effects including reprotoxicity. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the possible reproprotective effectof royal jelly (RJ) as an efficient antioxidant in ST-treated mice. Materials and Methods: Adult male mice were divided into four groups (n=5).Two groups of mice received ST (4.6 mg/kg/day) via gavage for 35 days. RJ was given orally to one of these groups at the dose level of 100 mg/kg body weight perday synchronously. Untreated control group and RJ-only treated group were also included. Epididymal sperm characteristics and in vitro fertilizing capacity wereevaluated after 35 days. Results: ST treatment caused a significant (p<0.05) decrease in sperm count andmotility and fertilization rate along with poor blastocyst formation and increased sperm DNA damage. Moreover, the incidence of apoptosis and abnormality inspermatozoa was significantly (p<0.05) higher in ST-exposed mice than those of control. The above-mentioned parameters were restored to near normal level by RJco-administration. Conclusion: Data from the current study suggest that RJ has a potential reproprotectiveaction against ST-induced reproductive toxicity in mice. However, clinical studies are warranted to investigate such an effect in human subjects

Keywords:

Royal jelly , Stanozolol , Embryo development , Sperm , Apoptosis