Protective effects of polysaccharide extracted from green alga Chaetomorpha linum against zinc and copper-induced testicular toxicity in male mice

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of copper (CuSO₄) and zinc (ZnSO₄) overload on male reproductive toxicity and the potential of a polysaccharide extracted from green alga Chaetomorpha linum (PS) in mitigating their toxicities. Adult male mice strain of 25 ± 2 g of weight was subdivided into eight groups. Group 1 served as control; group 2 received PS (200 mg/kg), and groups 3 and 4 received intraperitoneally zinc (60 mg/kg b.w) and copper (33 mg/kg b.w), respectively. Group 5 received both zinc (60 mg/kg b.w) and copper (33 mg/kg b.w), group 6 received zinc (60 mg/kg b.w) associated with PS (200 mg/kg), group 7 received copper (33 mg/kg b.w) associated with PS (200 mg/kg), and group 8 received zinc (60 mg/kg b.w) and copper (33 mg/kg b.w) associated with PS (200 mg/kg). Results suggested that ZnSO₄ and CuSO₄ significantly decreased the functional sperm parameters. Furthermore, extended exposure to these elements increased oxidative stress biomarkers, including malondialdehyde (MDA) as a measure of lipid peroxidation and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) indicating protein oxidative damage. This process also reduces the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which neutralize and catalyze free radicals. Histopathological changes in mice testis were also studied. However, the co-treatments with PS significantly reduced these effects and promoted the reproductive parameters in male mice. In conclusion, PS exhibited protective effects against zinc and copper-induced reproductive toxicity, making it a potential adjuvant treatment for testicular toxicity.

Keywords:

• Copper
• testicular toxicity
• polysaccharides
• zinc
• heavy metals

Ethics statement

All animal protocols complied with European Union legislation (Directive 2010/63/EU) on protecting animals used for scientific purposes and were approved by the local ethics committee.

Authors’ contributions

Asma Hamzaoui: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing – original draft, visualization. Amal Feki: investigation. Malek Eleroui: investigation. Zakaria Boujhoud: investigation. Ons Boudawara: supervision. Christian Magné: writing – review & editing. Nathalie Deschamps: supervision, Amina Nasri: supervision, Bertrand de Toffol: supervision, Ibtissem Ben Amara: resources, supervision, writing – review & editing. Jean-Marc Pujo & Hatem Kallel: writing – review & editing, supervision.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest concerning this article’s research, authorship, and/or publication.

Data availability statement

The research data used to support the findings of this study are included in the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Tuniso-morocain Project (Code 20PRD16).