Assessment of the protective effect of saffron against Khat induced testicular dysfunction in male rats

ABSTRACT

Catha edulis is a widespread herb used by many people for its euphoric effects, but it has an adverse effect on some vital organs. Saffron is abundant in secondary metabolites which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. So, this study was established to examine the impact of saffron in minimizing khat-induced testicular toxicity in rats. In this study, 40 male albino rats were used, the rats were divided into four groups (n = 10). Control, Saffron group, Khat group, and Khat + Saffron group. Rats treated with Khat showed marked changes in the testicular histological architecture. Histochemically, the testicular issues displayed low protein and polysaccharide contents. The immunohistochemical results showed low testicular expression for vimentin, E-cadherin proteins, and Bcl-2 while strong positive expression for BAX protein in compared with control. The antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase activity showed a marked decrease while malondialdehyde levels were elevated. However, rats given both khat followed by saffron showed an improvement in testicular histology, histochemistry, immunohistochemistry, and biochemical results; the results were close to the control ones. In conclusion, saffron proved its efficiency in improving testicular toxicity induced by khat in the testis of albino rats due to its richness with secondary metabolites at the histological, and biochemical levels and can be used as a safe daily supplementary.

KEYWORDS:

• Khat
• saffron
• histology
• vimentin
• E-chardin

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study has been authorized by Animal Care and Bioethics Committee, Egypt (Approval No. MNSH 323).