Therapeutic potential of rutin in male infertility: A mini review

Male infertility has become a problem worldwide, and recent research has emphasized the development of more effective therapy options. Among natural compounds, rutin has been widely studied for its potential to treat dysfunction related to male infertility, including a reduction in sperm quality, spermatogenesis disruption and structural disruption in the testis. A thorough review of scientific literature published in several databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus, was used to synthesize the present state of research on the role of rutin in male reproductive health. Rutin has been shown to possess antiapoptotic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, among others, which are crucial in the management of male infertility. Numerous investigations have shown that rutin protects against male infertility and have explored the underlying mechanisms involved. The present review, therefore, assesses the therapeutic mechanisms involved in male infertility treatment using rutin. Rutin was able to mitigate the induced oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation, and related physiological processes that can cause testicular dysfunction. Please cite this article as: Rotimi DE, Elebiyo TC, Ojo OA. Therapeutic potential of rutin in male infertility: a mini review. J Integr Med. 2022; Epub ahead of print.

Genome-wide transcriptome variation landscape in Ruta chalepensis organs revealed potential genes responsible for rutin biosynthesis

Ruta chalepensis L., most commonly known as 'fringed rue,' is an excellent and valuable bioactive plant that produces a range of complex flavonoids, of which rutin is the major compound present in this plant of great pharmaceutical and medicinal significance. The present study is a pioneering attempt to examine the changes in the transcriptomic landscape of leaf, stem, and root tissues and correlate this with rutin quantity in each tissue in order to identify the candidate genes responsible for rutin biosynthesis and to increase genomic resources in fringed rue. Comparative transcriptome sequencing of leaves, stems and roots were performed using the NovaSeq 6000 platform. The de novo transcriptome assembly generated 254,685 transcripts representing 154,018 genes with GC content of 42.60 % and N50 of 2280 bp. Searching assembled transcripts against UniRef90 and SwissProt databases annotated 79.7 % of them as protein coding. The leaf tissues had the highest rutin content followed by stems and roots. Several differentially expressed genes and transcripts relating to rutin biosynthesis were identified in leaves comparing with roots or stems comparing with roots. All the genes known to be involved in rutin biosynthesis showed up-regulation in leaves as compared with roots. These results were confirmed by gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses. Up-regulated genes in leaves as compared with roots enriched GO terms with relation to rutin biosynthesis e.g. action of flavonol synthase, biosynthetic mechanism of malonyl-CoA, and action of monooxygenase. Phylogenetic analysis of the rhamnosyltransferase (RT) gene showed that it was highly homologues with RT sequence from Citrus species and all were located in the same clade. This transcriptomic dataset will serve as an important public resource for future genomics and transcriptomic studies in R. chalepensis and will act as a benchmark for the identification and genetic modification of genes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites.

Histoprotective effect of rutin against cisplatin-induced toxicities in tumor-bearing mice: Rutin lessens cisplatin-induced toxicities

Cisplatin is an effective anticancer drug used against a variety of cancers. The full therapeutic potential of cisplatin is often hampered due to concurrent development of various side effects in the hosts. Rutin, a naturally occurring bioflavonoid shows several pharmacological activities. It has been earlier reported by us that rutin and cisplatin in combination show better antitumor activity against murine ascites Dalton's lymphoma. As cisplatin is given to cancer-bearing hosts only, the present study was undertaken to explore the histoprotective effect of rutin against some toxicities induced by cisplatin in tumor-bearing mice. Cisplatin treatment caused severe damages in tissue architecture such as degenerated hepatocytes with nuclear condensation and sinusoidal dilatation in the liver, glomerular deterioration, infiltration of cells, and tubular congestion in the kidney, and vacuolization of Sertoli cells or dense granules in the cytoplasm and damaged seminiferous tubules in the testes. In the rutin plus cisplatin combination-treated mice, all the abnormal tissue architectural features were decreased. Further, as compared to cisplatin treatment, combination treatment did not show any significant elevation in the liver functional biomarkers (serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase) and renal functional biomarkers (serum urea and creatinine levels). The combination treatment reduced the sperm abnormalities also as compared to the cisplatin alone treatment. The in vitro hemolysis assay of red blood cells and scanning electron microscopy revealed that combination treatment lessened the cisplatin-induced hemolysis and abnormalities in RBCs. Thus, the present findings demonstrate that rutin has histoprotective ability against cisplatin-induced toxicities in tumor-bearing mice.

Rutin and meloxicam attenuate paw inflammation in mice: Affecting sorbitol dehydrogenase activity

Rutin, naturally occurring flavonoid, has reported to cover interesting multiple pharmacological properties. This study evaluated rutin or/and meloxicam effects in paw inflammation induced by formalin in mice. Mice were divided into four groups: I-Formalin group, II-Rutin 60 mg/kg (p.o.), III-Meloxicam 10 mg/kg (p.o.), plus IV-Combined rutin and meloxicam. Therapies were administered once a day for 7 days. The curative effects were assessed on inflammatory, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. Both rutin and/or meloxicam induced marked improvement in paw licking time on the 1st day and by combined treatment only on the 3rd day as well reduction in paw edema% on the 3rd day. Moreover, noticeable progress in liver malondialdehyde content, superoxide dismutase, and sorbitol dehydrogenase activities as well decline in paw interleukin-1β level and extent of apoptosis. The results spot light on the good influence of combined rutin and meloxicam in formalin-induced mice paw inflammation to a better extent than either rutin or meloxicam lonely.