ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Estrogens has traditionally been known as the female hormone, but this idea has been challenged in early 1990’s and an essential physiological role for estrogen in male fertility was identified. Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring non-steroidal plant chemicals that can act like the female hormone estrogen. The herbs ( anise alfalfa and vervain ) chosen in this study contain phytoestrogens. OBJECTIVE: Previous studies demonstrated controversy of the effects of phytoestrogens on the rat testes .Hence, the present investigation was undertaken to investigate the influence of typical dose of herbs containing phytoestrogen on the rat testis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four apparently normal mature male rats were divided into four groups of 6 animals each. The first "control" group received only 4ml of distilled water as a placebo. The second group received 40mg/kg of anise seed; the third group received 53.3 mg/kg of dried herb of vervain and the fourth group received 400 mg /kg of alfalfa seeds. All experimental groups received the doses through orogastric tube daily for fourteen days. Testicular histology was evaluated by light and enzyme histochemistry. Plasma FSH and testosterone concentrations were taken to support our results. RESULTS: Histological examination of anise, alfalfa and vervain – treated groups showed an increase in the height of germinal epithelia. There was marked lipoprotein lipase activity in the whole of the interstitial tissue which is more in amount in experimental groups than that in control group. Acid phosphatase granules were infiltered the seminiferous epithelia mildly in control group , moderately in anise and vervain groups and markedly in alfalfa group. The number of interstitial cells showing marked acid phosphatase activity was higher in all experimental groups than that in control group. Alkaline phosphatase exhibited intense activity in the boundary tissue of the seminiferous tubules in testes of control and experimental groups but it appeared thicker in the latter. CONCLUSION: The low dose and short duration of treatment used in our study made these phytoestrogen – containing herbs to have a stimulatory effect on leydig cell steroidogenesis. This study also demonstrated that aniseed being the most potent of the three herbs followed by alfalfa in stimulating testosterone synthesis. This is possibly attributed to the coumarin constituent of aniseed and alfalfa. KEY WORDS: phytoestrogen-containing herbs, testis, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, lipoprotein lipase
Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi | Volume: 48 Issue: 2
Abstract As the United Nations approaches its 70th anniversary, the world is going through the most severe accumulation of serious international security failures in recent memory, challenging the UN Security Council’s ability to address them effectively. Over the past four years, crises in Libya, Syria and Ukraine have precipitated a worrisome erosion of great power relations that has complicated Security Council decision making on a number of trouble spots. Its inability to devise consensus responses to the escalating civil war in Syria has been particularly troubling, resulting in the regional spill over into Iraq and the emergence of Islamic State as a new threat to peace in the region and beyond. Meanwhile, the UN’s often under
... Show Moreفي الدراسة الحالية، تم تصنيع جسيمات ZrO2 النانوية باستخدام مستخلص نباتي مشتق من نبات Vitex agnus castus، ووسط قلوي مثل هيدروكسيد الصوديوم. تم استخدام أسلوب التخليق الحيوي لتحضير جزيئات أوكسيد الزركونيوم النانوية لهذا المشروع البحثي. تتميز هذه الطريقة عن غيرها بسبب فعاليتها من حيث التكلفة وبساطتها وقلة المخاطر المحتملة. وتم تشخيص العينات المحضرة باستخدام المجهر الإلكتروني النافذ TEM، المجهر الإلكتروني الماسح SEM،
... Show MoreThe problem of research lies in answering some of the question: What is the reality of (vital conscience) in some colleges and departments of physical education and sports science in Baghdad from the viewpoint of the teachers? And The aim of the research is to prepare a scale (the vitality of the conscience) and learn about its reality in colleges and departments of physical education and sports science in Baghdad from the viewpoint of teachers and The researcher relied on the descriptive method in the survey method and the relationships related to the nature of the research problem and The sample of the research was senior administrators teaching some colleges and departments of physical education and sports science in Baghdad , Th
... Show MoreSome Factors determining the virulence of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) isolates were studied ,of 25 isolates , 17(group A) uropathogenic E. coli ,6 (group B) infected gastrointestinal tract , 2 (group C) infected wound , beside these group we use the standard strain E. coli HB101 as control group. The twenty five isolates were tested for adherence capability to human buccal cavity epithelial cells by in vitro experiment . The results showed that all isolates have different adhesion capability with mean ranging from (14.35±11.39) to (33.80 ± 22.68) bacteria / epithelial cell It was noticed that isolates EU9, ES6, EW17 displayed high adhesive capability with mean value (33.80 ± 22.68), (32.60 ± 21.19), (29.90±22.50) bacteria /epithelial
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid carcinoma that represents a set of characteristic of nuclear features in which the diagnosis is depend. AIM: The study aimed to review different variants of PTC which has different malignant potential in correlation with many prognostic and clinical factors in Iraq. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Paraffin blocks of 227 cases of PTC were selected, subtyped, and grouped according to the malignant potential. The prognostic and clinical factors were studied. RESULTS: The mean age was (39.29 ± 12.17) years, with female predominance (86.3%), where (55.5%) of them below 40 years, conventional variant was most common (40.1%), followed by papillary microcarcinoma
... Show MoreThe challenge in studying fusion reaction when the projectile is neutron or proton rich halo nuclei is the coupling mechanism between the elastic and the breakup channel, therefore the motivation from the present calculations is to estimate the best coupling parameter to introduce the effect of coupled-channels for the calculations of the total cross section of the fusion , the barrier distribution of the fusion and the average angular momentum 〈L〉 for the systems 6He+206Pb, 8B+28Si, 11Be+209Bi, 17F+208Pb, 6He+238U, 8He+197Au and 15C+232Th using quantum mechanical approach. A
... Show MoreDensity Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to study the thermal cracking for acenaphthylene molecule to estimate the bond energies for breaking C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C4 , and C5-H5 bonds as well as the activation energies. It was found that for C8b-C5a , C5-C4 , and C5-H5 reactions it is often possible to identify one pathway for bond breakage through the singlet or triplet states. The atomic charges , dipole moment and nuclear – nuclear repulsion energy supported the breakage bond .Also, it was found that the activation energy value for C5-H5 bond breakage is lower than that required for C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C4 bonds which refer to C5-H5 bond in acenaphthylene molecule are weaker than C8b-C5a , C5a-C5 , C5-C
... Show MoreOut of 180 children, 60 (33.3%) have Amoebiasis infection as diagnosed by direct wet smear and Saturated Salt Solution (SSS). SSS method is more significant (P=0.001) in diagnosis of the disease. Number of children infected with Amoebiasis infection is higher in infants aged 1-6 months, but without any significant difference to ages 6-12 or 12-18 months. In contrast, infants aged 18-24 months are significantly differant (P=0.01) as the infection rate is 16.6%. Gender also is seen to be reduced in significance (P= 0.001) for females aged 18-24 months. Blood profile of the involved infants has shown a significant variation (P=0. 01) for all blood profile parameters (RBC (P=0.05), WBC (P=0.001), Lymphocytes (P=0.05), Granulated WBC (P=0.05),
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