Therapeutic effects of thymoquinone or capsaicin on acrylamide-induced reproductive toxicity in rats mediated by their effect on oxidative stress, inflammation, and tight junction integrity

Abstract

In the field of environmental toxicology, endocrine-disrupting effects have become a major concern. The present research set out to investigate the possible reproductive toxicity of acrylamide. The research was also expanded to explore the protective effects of two nutraceuticals, thymoquinone (TQ) and capsaicin, against acrylamide-induced reproductive toxicity. Six groups of sixty male albino rats were created. Group 1 was used as a control. Rats were administered a daily dose of acrylamide and acted as the model in Group 2. TQ was provided to rats once a day in Group 3. Capsaicin was administered to rats once a day in Group 4. TQ was given once daily to rats exposed to acrylamide in Group 5. Rats were given capsaicin once a day for eight weeks after being exposed to acrylamide in Group 6. Acrylamide induced oxidative stress, testicular NF-κB/p65 expression, and down-regulated the expression of occludin, all of which can contribute to its testicular toxicity, while TQ or capsaicin removes all of these toxicity signs. TQ and capsaicin have shown efficacy in alleviating all of the acrylamide's toxic insults in the current reproductive toxicity model. Both nutraceuticals upregulated the expression of occludin in testicular tissue and restored tight junction integrity, in addition to their well-known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which were confirmed in this study.

Keywords:

• Testicular failure
• thymoquinone
• capsaicin
• acrylamide
• NF-ΚB/P65
• occludin

Acknowledgement

Authors acknowledge Dr. Kawkab A Ahmed, Professor of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University for her help in the part of the histopathological and immunohistochemical examination in this work.

Author contributions

Ekram Nemr Abd Al Haleem developed the research idea, designed the experiments, supervised the experiment execution, and wrote the manuscript; Walaa Yousef Soliman Hasan performed the experiments, collected the data, analyzed the data, and performed the graphical and statistical analysis. Hossam Mohamed Mohamed Arafa suggests the research idea, supervised the execution of the experiment, and supervised the data analysis. All authors have approved the article for submission and they certify that this article has been subjected to professional language editing. The authors declare that all data were generated in-house and that no paper mill was used.

Disclosure statement

There is no conflict of interest. All authors disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) our work.