Background and Aim: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) plays a pivotal role in spermatogenesis through its regulatory functions in redox balance and gene expression. This study aimed to investigate the effects of resveratrol (RES), a polyphenolic AhR modulator, and CH223191, a selective AhR antagonist, on male reproductive function in rats by assessing sperm quality, oxidative stress, testicular histopathology, and AhR gene expression. Materials and Methods: Forty adult male rats were randomly divided into four groups: (i) Control, (ii) dimethyl sulfoxide (vehicle), (iii) RES (100 mg/kg i.p., twice weekly), and (iv) AhR⁻ (CH223191, 10 mg/kg i.p., twice weekly), treated for 60 days. Post-treatment, sperm motility, survival, viability, and DNA fragmentation were evaluated. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, testicular histopathology, and AhR gene expression quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were analyzed. Results: RES significantly enhanced sperm motility, survival, and viability, reduced DNA fragmentation, and increased TAC while decreasing MDA levels. Histologically, RES preserved normal testicular architecture. In contrast, AhR inhibition through CH223191 led to marked reductions in sperm quality, elevated oxidative stress, increased DNA fragmentation, and severe testicular degeneration. qPCR analysis revealed upregulation of AhR expression in the RES group (fold change: +23.1%) and significant downregulation in the AhR⁻ group (fold change: −72.6%), indicating differential modulation of AhR signaling pathways. Conclusion: RES positively modulates AhR activity, safeguarding testicular structure and enhancing sperm quality through antioxidant and anti-apoptotic mechanisms. Conversely, AhR antagonism disrupts spermatogenesis, underscoring the receptor’s essential role in male fertility. These findings suggest the therapeutic potential of AhR-targeting agents like RES in ameliorating male reproductive dysfunctions associated with oxidative stress and xenobiotic exposure. Keywords: antioxidant capacity, aryl hydrocarbon receptor, resveratrol, CH223191, oxidative stress, sperm DNA fragmentation, spermatogenesis.
Metal contents in vegetables are interesting because of issues related to food safety and potential health risks. The availability of these metals in the human body may perform many biochemical functions and some of them linked with various diseases at high levels. The current study aimed to evaluate the concentration of various metals in common local consumed vegetables using ICP-MS. The concentrations of metals in vegetables of tarragon, Bay laurel, dill, Syrian mesquite, vine leaves, thymes, arugula, basil, common purslane and parsley of this study were found to be in the range of, 76-778 for Al, 10-333 for B, 4-119 for Ba, 2812-24645 for Ca, 0.1-0.32 for Co, 201-464 for Fe, 3661-46400 for K, 0.31–1.
... Show MoreThis research deals with shedding light on the issue of the poor understanding of students of Islamic sciences colleges for the subject of modern sciences; their causes and treatment, and it started with an introduction and an introductory research; The general weakness of the level of students of colleges of Islamic sciences in this article, and I detailed these reasons that relate to: the curriculum, the teaching staff, and students, and then concluded it with proposals and recommendations that would address this weakness.
A total of 228 domestic and wild animals, including sheep, goats, cows, buffaloes, camels, horses, donkeys, dogs, cats, wild hares, Asiatic jackals, and red foxes were examined for ixodid ticks in the central region of Iraq. Nine species of ixodid ticks belong to two genera namely Hyalomma anatolicum Koch, 1844, H. excavatum Koch, 1844, H. turanicum Pomerantsef, 1946, H. scupense Delpy, 1946, H. dromedarii Koch, 1844, H. schulzei Olenev, 1931, Rhipicephalus annulatus (Say, 1821), R. turanicus Pomerantsef & al., 1940 and R. leporis Pomerantsef, 1946 were recovered. Their distribution among hosts and infestation rates were di
... Show MoreThe research aims to monitor and analyze the visual and symbolic features, derived from the Omani heritage, and inspired by the concept of local identity, for a selection of contemporary Omani graphic art works, which represent a mixed, multi-category of research sample, comprising three levels: the works of professional Omani artists, and the works of young artists and specialized students, as well as the work of a number of active academics in the field of graphic theorizing and teaching. The sample is also divided - in terms of technical classification - into a category of works executed using traditional engraving and printing media, and a category of works executed using modern and digital graphic printing media.
Through the da
. Mesopotamian art is thase mployed all around him into forms for artistic purposes and different con not at ions help him to understand the world around him and customized for their interests
The mural architectural art has distinguished traits that made it promote to the rank of the prominent arts that have been employed by the Mesopotamian human to relate to the world the heroic deeds and exploits of that civilization ,that formed greatest and most splendid wonderful works that still illustrious and outstanding till nowadays .The mural architectural art of pottery and glazed considered one of the most ancient wonders of Mesopotamian creation in Old Iraq .The best quintessence of mural
... Show MoreThis study is carried out to investigate the prevalence of Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) infections in cattle using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting IS1111A transposase gene. A total of 130 lactating cows were randomly selected from different areas in Wasit province, Iraq and subjected to blood and milk sampling during the period extended between November 2018 and May 2019. ELISA and PCR tests revealed that 16.15% and 10% of the animals studied were respectively positive. Significant correlations (P<0.05) were detected between the positive results and clinical data. Two positive PCR products were analyzed phylogenetically, named as C. burnetii IQ-No.5 and C. burnet
... Show MoreHeat transfer process and fluid flow in a solar chimney used for natural ventilation are investigated numerically and experimentally her in. Solar chimney was designed, manufactured and tested by selecting different positions of air entrance namely: bottom entrance, side entrance, and both side and bottom entrances. The effect of integrating the chimney with paraffin (phase change material) on its thermal behavior has been also investigated. CFD analysis based on finite volume method is used to predict the thermal performance, and fluid flow in two-dimensional solar chimney under unsteady state condition, to identify the effect of different parameters such as solar radiation, and inclination angle. Experimental results show that a solar chi
... Show MoreThis study evaluated the knowledge and practice of breast self-examination (BSE), among a sample of educated Iraqi women. The study sample comprised 858 women aged 18–62 years affiliated to 6 major Iraqi universities, categorized according to occupation as teaching staff (11.5%), administrative staff (18.0%) and students (70.5%). Data were collected by a self-completed questionnaire. In all, 93.9% of the women had heard about BSE, the main source of information was television (39.9%), doctors (18.4%) and the awareness campaign of the Iraqi National Breast Cancer Research Programme (11.6%). Only 53.9% of the women practised BSE; the most common excuses by those that did not were lack of knowledge of the significance of BSE (42.0%) and lack
... Show MoreNon-additive measures and corresponding integrals originally have been introduced by Choquet in 1953 (1) and independently defined by Sugeno in 1974 (2) in order to extend the classical measure by replacing the additivity property to non-additive property. An important feature of non –additive measures and fuzzy integrals is that they can represent the importance of individual information sources and interactions among them. There are many applications of non-additive measures and fuzzy integrals such as image processing, multi-criteria decision making, information fusion, classification, and pattern recognition. This paper presents a mathematical model for discussing an application of non-additive measures and corresp
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