Abstract

EFFECT OF ZINGIBER OFFICINALE ON ALUMINIUM INDUCED EPIDIDYMAL SPERM ABNORMALITIES IN ALBINO RATS

Kalaiselvi Arumugam* and Ramalingam Venugoapal

ABSTRACT

Aluminium (Al) is the well known neurotoxin and has several industrial uses. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is example of botanicals which showed many pharmacological effects. With the help of the uses of ginger in many ailments, the present study was to investigate the protective effect of ginger extract on aluminium-induced epdidymal sperm abnormalities in rats. 24Wistar strain rats (6 animals each) were divided into 4 equal groups. First group was kept as control. Second group of rats was given aluminium chloride (AlCl3) orally (100mg/kg bw), third group with AlCl3 (100mg/kg bw) and ginger extract (50mg/kg bw) simultaneously and the last group with ginger alone administered group (50mg/kg bw) for 60 days. At the end of the experimental period, blood was collected for hormonal assay and epididymis was dissected out, weighed and processed for epididymal sperm parameters. Obtained result shows the Al administration significantly decreased the body weight, feed intake, testis, epididymis and accessory sex organs weight, sperm count, motility, abnormality and testosterone level compared with control. Ginger administration group restored all the above studied parameters to normal. According to the present results, it is concluded that combined treatment with Al and ginger can improve the sperm parameter alterations and reduced the sperm abnormalities. The ameliorative effect of Z. officinale against epididymal damage induced by Al may be due to its antioxidant and the androgenic properties which make it as a possible fertility booster.

Keywords: AlCl3, Ginger, Body weight, Sperm, Testosterone.