Studies on testicular ultrastructural and hormonal changes in type-2 diabetic rats treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy conjugated silver nanoparticles

Molecular mechanisms underpinning the protection against antiretroviral drug-induced sperm-endocrine aberrations and testicular toxicity: A review

The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has revolutionized the treatment of HIV/AIDS worldwide. The HAART approach is the combination of two or more antiretroviral drugs of different classes and are responsible for patient's survival and declining death rates from HIV/AIDS and AIDS-related events. However, the severe and persistent reproductive side effect toxicity of HAART regimens is of great concern to patients within the reproductive age. Till date, the underlying pathophysiology of the HAART-induced reproductive toxicity remains unraveled. Nevertheless, preclinical studies show that oxidative stress and inflammation may be involved in HAART-induced sperm-endocrine deficit and reproductive aberrations. Studies are emerging demonstrating the efficacy of plant-based and non-plant products against the molecular alterations and testicular toxicity of HAART. The testicular mechanisms of mitigation by these products are associated with enhancement of testicular steroidogenesis, spermatogenesis, inhibition of oxidative stress and inflammation. This review presents the toxic effects of HAART on spermatogenesis, reproductive hormones and testis integrity. It also provides insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying the mitigation of HAART testicular toxicity by plant-based and non-plant agents. However, effect of repurposing clinical drugs to combat HAART toxicity is unknown, and more mechanistic studies are evidently needed. Altogether, plant-based and non-plant products are potential agents for prevention of rampant endocrine dysfunction and testicular toxicity of HAART.

Structural changes in testes of Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats and possible protective effect of royal jelly: light and electron microscopic study

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common metabolic diseases causing damage in many organs in the body including the testes. Royal Jelly (RJ) is one of the honey bee products that has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic properties. This study was performed to evaluate the changes in the microscopic structure of the testes in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats, and the possible protective role of RJ. 60 adult male albino rats were divided into three groups. Group I Control group, Group II STZ group, and Group III STZ+RJ group. Group II received a single dose of STZ (50 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection. Group III received a single dose of STZ as in the second group then received RJ orally by intragastric tube in dose of (100 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks after confirmation of diabetes. Light and electron microscopic studies were performed. Group II revealed marked structural changes affecting seminiferous tubules with sever reduction in germinal epithelium and loss of mature spermatozoa in their lumina. The interstitial tissue revealed degenerated Leydig cells and congested blood vessels. Mallory trichrome stained section of group II revealed marked increase in the amount of collagen fibers. Group III revealed highly preserved testicular architecture almost near to that appeared in the control group except few tubules that were damaged. In conclusion, RJ protected the testicular structure from the damaging effect of diabetic oxidative stress through its antioxidant effect thus preserving male fertility.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy-silver nanoparticle conjugate interacts with neuronal and glial cells and alleviates anxiety-like behaviour in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

The inception of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has changed the management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients, with an improvement in life expectancy. However, neurological complications associated with high dosage and chronic administration of HAART have not been fully addressed. Therefore, this study evaluated the potential benefits of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) conjugated-HAART (HAART-AgNPs) and its interaction with neuronal and glial cells in type-2 diabetic rats. Forty-two (n = 42) adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (250 ± 13 g) were divided into non-diabetic and diabetic groups. Each rat was administered with either distilled water, HAART, or HAART-AgNPs for eight weeks. After that, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) was excised for immunohistochemical, biochemical, and ultrastructural analysis. The formulated HAART-AgNPs were characterised by Ultraviolet-Visible, Transmission electron microscope, Energy Dispersive X-ray and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Of the various concentrations of HAART-AgNPs, 1.5 M exhibited 20.3 nm in size and a spherical shape was used for this study. Administration of HAART-AgNPs to diabetic rats significantly decreased (p < 0.05) blood glucose level, number of faecal pellets, malondialdehyde (MDA), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) compared with HAART-treated diabetic rats. Notably, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in antioxidant biomarkers (SOD and GSH), improvement in PFC-glial fibrillary acid protein (PFC-GFAP) positive cells and alleviation of anxiety-like behaviour in HAART-AgNPs treated diabetic rats. These results showed that HAART-AgNPs alleviates the anxiogenic effect and neuronal toxicity aggravated by HAART exposure via the reduction of oxidative and neuroinflammatory injury as well as preserving PFC GFAP-positive cells and neuronal cytoarchitecture.