Impact of the aqueous extract of dandelion, probiotic and their synbiotic on male lamb’s testicular histopathology relative to semen characteristics

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating effects of dandelion/probiotic on the testis histology and semen characteristics of male lambs. Twelve prepuberal Noemi male lambs (2 ± 0.4-month-old and 20 ± 3.5 kg B.W) were randomly allocated into four groups. Animals in group 1 were controlled, orally given normal saline as the same schedule of treated animals. In group 2 animals were given daily oral 50 ml of an aqueous extract of dandelion leaves. In group 3 animals were given a daily 50 ml of cow’s milk probiotics, and in group 4 animals were given 50 ml of a 1:1 mixture (dandelion extract: probiotic). Animals were treated for 8 consecutive weeks. At puberty, semen ejaculates were collected weekly for further 10 weeks. Thereafter, animals were sacrificed and testicles were obtained, weighed and a histopathological study was performed on the testis. Results revealed that oral administration of the dandelion aqueous extract to prepuberal lambs exhibited disturbances in the histological architecture of the testicular semeniferous tubules. Additionally, dandelion resulted in edematic interstitial tissues with evident vaculations. These deteriorations were reflected in less spermatogenesis (i.e. less sperm concentration and ejaculate volume by 10% and 20%, respectively than controlled group). Also, the percentage of sperm progressive motility was lower (P < 0.05) and dead sperm was higher (P < 0.05) in rams given dandelion than control. Administration of probiotic hasn’t revealed a change in the seminiferous tubules architecture, however, very little vaculation with rare edema was observed. Administration of the synbiotic mixture revealed intermediate histopathological appearances. The highest sperm concentration, testosterone concentration and advanced motility were obtained when probiotic was administered. In conclusion, although dandelion cures some hepatic malfunctions in human, caution must be taken into consideration of the frequent ingestion of dandelion for its harmful effect on male fertility.

Share and Cite:

Zeitoun, M. , Farahna, M. , Al-Sobayil, K. and Abdel-Salam, A. (2014) Impact of the aqueous extract of dandelion, probiotic and their synbiotic on male lamb’s testicular histopathology relative to semen characteristics. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 4, 23-30. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2014.41004.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Blumenthal, M., Goldberg, A. and Brinckmann, J. (2000) Herbal medicine: Expanded commission E monographs. Integrative Medicine Communications, Newton, 78-83.
[2] Williams, C.A., Goldstone, F. and Greeham, J. (1996) Flavonoids, cinnamic acids and coumarins from the different tissues and medicinal preparations of Taraxacum officinale. Phytochemistry, 42, 121-127.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0031-9422(95)00865-9
[3] Peirce, A. (1999) The American Pharmaceutical Association practical guide to natural medicines. William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York.
[4] Ottariano, S.G. (1999) Medicinal herbal therapy: A pharmacist’s view. Nicoln Fields Pub., Portsmouth.
[5] Weiss, R.F. (1988) Herbal medicine. AB Arcanum, Gothenburg.
[6] Duke, J.A. (1985) CRC handbook of medicinal herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
[7] Blumenthal, M. (1998) The complete German Commission E monographs: Therapeutic guide to herbal medicines. 1st Edition, American Botanical Council, Austin, 684 p.
[8] Fleming, T. (1998) PDR for herbal medicines. Medical Economics Company, Inc., Montvale.
[9] Matsui, A.S., Rogers, J., Woo, Y.K., et al. (1967) Effects of some natural products on fertility in mice. International Journal of Experimental Medicine, 16, 414-424.
[10] Tahtamouni, L.H., Alqurna, N.M., Al-Hudhud, M.Y. and Al-Hajj, H.A. (2011) Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) decreases male rat fertility in vivo. Journal of Ethnopharmacol, 26, 135, 102-109.
[11] AOAC (2000) Official Methods of Analysis. 17th Edition, Gaithersburg, Maryland.
[12] Moltz, L., Sorensen, R., Schwartz, U. and Hammerstein, J. (1984) Ovarian and adrenal vein steroids in healthy women with ovulatory cycles-selective catheterization finding. Journal of Steroid Biochemistry, 20, 901-905.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-4731(84)90403-5
[13] Tamime, A.Y. and Robinson, R.K. (1999) Yoghurt: Science and Technology. Woodhead Publishers, Cambridge.
[14] AOAC (1990) Official methods of analysis of the AOAC. 2, 1298 p.
[15] Meléndez, P. A. and Caprilesa, V. A. (2006) Antibacterial properties of tropical plants from Puerto Rico. Phytomedicine, 13, 272-276.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2004.11.009
[16] SAS (2000) Statistical Analysis System User’s Guide. Version 8, SAS Institute, Cary NC.
[17] Steel R.G.D. and Torrie J.H. (1980) Principals of Statistics. McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., NY.
[18] Humason, G.L. (1979) Animal Tissue Techniques. W.N. Freeman and Company, San Francisco.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2011.02.027
[19] Petlevski, R., Hadzija, M., Slijepcevic, M. and Juretic, D. (2008) Toxicological assessment of P-9801091 plant mixture extract after chronic administration in CBA/HZg mice: A biochemical and histological study. Collegium Antropologicum, 32, 577-581.
[20] Schutz, K., Carle, R. and Schieber, A. (2006) Taraxacum: A review on its phytochemical and pharmacological profile. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 107, 313-323.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2006.07.021
[21] Shidoji, Y. and Ogawa, H. (2004) Natural occurrence of cancer-preventive geranylgeranoic acid in medicinal herbs. The Journal of Lipid Research, 45, 1092-1103.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1194/jlr.M300502-JLR200
[22] Van Loo, J., Coussement, P., De Leenheer, L., Hoebregs, H. and Smits, G. (1995) The presence of inulin and oligofructose as natural ingredients in western diet. CRC Critical Reviews of Food Science and Nutrition, 35, 525-552.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10408399509527714
[23] Lans, C., Turner, N., Khan, T., Brauer, G. and Boepple, W. (2007) Ethnoveterinary medicines used for ruminants in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 3, 1-22.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-3-11
[24] Jeon, H.J., Kang, H.J., Jung, H., Kang, Y.S., Lim, C.M. and Kim, Y.M. (2008) Anti-inflammatory activity of Taraxacum officinale. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 115, 82-88.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2007.09.006
[25] Mahesh, A., Jeyachandran, R., Cindrella, L., Thangadurai, D., Veerapur, V.P. and Muralidhara Rao, D. (2010) Hepatocurative potential of sesquiterpene lactones of Taraxacum officinale on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver toxicity in mice. Acta Biologica Hungarica, 61, 175-190.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/ABiol.61.2010.2.6
[26] Zhang, Y., Ge, R. and Hardy, M.P. (2008) Androgenforming stem Leydig cells: Identification, function and therapeutic potential. Disease Markers, 24, 277-286.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2008/905025
[27] Chen, L., Zhao, Y. and Zhang, Y. (2012) Progress on the research of stem Leydig cell line in the testis of rodents. Wei Sheng Yan Jiu, 41, 158-162.
[28] Luo, L., Chen, H. and Zirkin, B.R. (1996) Are Leydig cell steroidogenic enzymes differentially regulated with aging? Journal of Andrology, 17, 509-515.
[29] Wu, C.Y., Yu, T.J. and Chen, M.J. (2000) Age related testosterone level changes and male andropause syndrome. Chang Gung Medical Journal, 23, 348-53.
[30] Wang, C., Hikim, A.S., Ferrini, M., Bonavera, J.J., Vernet, D., Leung, A., Lue, Y.H., Gonzalez-Cadavid, N.F. and Swerdloff, R.S. (2002) Male reproductive ageing: Using the brown Norway rat as a model for man. Novartis Foundation Symposium, 242, 82-97.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/0470846542.ch6
[31] Padashetty, S.A. and Mishra, S.H. (2007) Effect of terpenoidal fraction of Echinops echinatus roots on reproductive parameters of male rats. Journal of Natural Medicines, 61, 452-457.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11418-007-0173-4
[32] Thangaraj, K., Joshi, M.B., Reddy, A.G., Rasalkar, A.A. and Singh, L. (2003) Sperm mitochondrial mutations as a cause of low sperm motility. Journal of Andrology, 24, 388-392.
[33] Zhi, X., Honda, K., Ozaki, K., Misugi, T., Sumi, T. and Ishiko, O. (2007) Dandelion T-1 extract up-regulates reproductive hormone receptor expression in mice. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 20, 287-292.
[34] Welsh, M., Saunders, P.T.K., Atanassova, N., Sharpe, R.M. and Smith, L.B. (2009) Androgen action via testicular peritubular myoid cells is essential for male fertility. The FASEB Journal, 23, 4218-4230.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1096/fj.09-138347
[35] Al-Sobayil, K.A., Zeitoun, M.M., Khalil, M.H. and Abdel-Salam, A.M. (2008) Effect of oral administration of a functional synbiotic syrup on libido, semen characteristics, serum testosterone and liver and kidney function of goat’s bucks. Asian Journal of Biological Sciences, 1, 11-18.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/ajbs.2008.11.18
[36] Yang, J.L., Wen, M., Pan, K.C., Shen, K.F., Yang, R. and Liu, Z.H. (2012) Protective effects of dietary co-administration of probiotic Lactobacillus casei on CP-induced reproduction dysfunction in adult male Kumming mice. Veterinary Research, 5, 110-119.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.