الفهرس 
Introduction And Aim Of The WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
To the best of our knowledge, no in vivo investigation shed the light on the physiological roles of date seeds nanoparticles (DSNPs) on male reproductive performance especially when exposed to endocrine disruptor chemicals (EDCs) like BPA. Therefore, this study was implemented to determine whether we could take advantage of the properties of date seeds “DSs” (plant form) and zinc oxide “ZnO” (metal form), either in powder or nanoparticle form, to protect from the hazards caused by BPA exposure on the reproductive capacity, thyroid activity, and oxidative status of adult male albino rats, that were assisted by evaluation of specific genes related to fertility, oxidative stress and testicular apoptosis.
For that purpose, after acclimatization, the 49 adult male albino rats were equally divided into 7 groups (each group included 7 adult male rats):
1) The first group (Control group; n=7): the rats in this group were gavaged daily with 0.5 ml of the vehicle (corn oil).
2) The second group of animals (BPA group (control positive); n=7): the rats in this group received a daily dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. by gavage.
3) The third group of animals (BPA + date seeds powder “DSP”; n=7): the rats in this group received a daily dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. plus 500 mg aqueous suspension of DSP/kg/day orally by gavage (after vigorous shaking to ensure uniform dose).
4) The fourth group of animals (BPA + a large dose of date seeds nanoparticles “DSNPs”; n=7): the rats in this group received a daily oral dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. plus a large dose of DSNPs “DSNPs 1/10” (50 mg/kg B.w.t., which is equivalent to 1/10 of the DSP dosage) via gavage.
5) The fifth group of animals (BPA + a small dose of DSNPs; n=7): the rats in this group received a daily oral dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. plus a small dose of DSNPs “DSNPs 1/20” (25 mg/kg BW, which is equivalent to 1/20 of the DSP dosage) via gavage.
6) The sixth group of animals (BPA + conventional zinc oxide “cZnO”; n=7): the rats in this group received a daily dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. by gavage plus 5 mg cZnO /kg B.w.t. intraperitoneally, twice/week.
7)The seventh group of animals (BPA + zinc oxide nanoparticles “ZnO-NPs”; n=7): the rats in this group received a daily dose of 50 mg BPA /kg B.w.t. plus 5 mg ZnO-NPs / Kg B.w.t. intraperitoneally, twice/week.
The rats in all groups received their corresponding treatments for 2 successive months (One full spermatogenic cycle).
Then, on the 60th day, the dosed rats of each group were weighed (Final weight) then they were weighed again at the end of the study to compute the Body weight gain (BWG). Then, the rats were subjected to blood collection and sacrificed for tissue samples collection.
gonadosomatic index (GSI) in all groups were also recorded and compared among groups. Also, epididymal semen was evaluated.
Moreover, serum analyses of testosterone (T), thyroxin (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) as well as testicular malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant activities (TAC) were also assessed.
Also, Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) (Cyp11a1, Nrf-2, Bax and BCL-2 genes) and histopathology as well as morphometrical analysis were determined.
Analysis of data revealed that:
TEM analysis of DSNPs and ZnO-NPs confirmed that the particles were effectively converted into nano-sized particles.
It was noticed that treatment with BPA did not significantly affect the BWG and GSI of the rats compared to control and other groups except for cZnO, which had a greater GSI than the BPA group.
Additionally, it was noted that BPA significantly degraded the normal conformation of sperm, which was intriguingly restored by using DSs in both conventional and nanoformulation forms, as well as both forms of ZnO. In terms of sperm motility and concentration, both DSNPs doses performed better than DSP (P < 0.01), with DSNPs 1/10 demonstrating greater improvement in sperm abnormalities than DSNPs 1/20. Moreover, ZnO-NPs had results for sperm quality that were similar to those of the cZnO group (P >0.05).
The serum levels of T3, T4, and testosterone were noticeably reduced by BPA. Interestingly, as compared to the BPA group, DSP, DSNPs 1/10, DSNPs 1/20, cZnO, or ZnO-NPs were observed to be effective treatments at lowering the negative effects of BPA on these hormones (P<0.001). In both treatments, the action of nanoforms produced superior outcomes than the conventional forms on such hormones.
Furthermore, while comparing the BPA group to the control one, the testicular level of MDA was dramatically enhanced and the level of TAC was significantly lowered (P<0.001). TAC enrichment in the testis was significantly increased and MDA was reduced in rats treated with cZnO, ZnO-NPs, DSP, DSNPs 1/10, or DSNPs 1/20 (p < 0.001). In comparison to the powder form, DSNPs outperformed it (p < 0.001). DSNPs 1/20, on the other hand, produced the best outcomes (p < 0.001). ZnO-NPs proved to be more effective than the conventional form in reducing MDA levels (p < 0.001).
BPA significantly reduced the testicular mRNA relative expression levels of Nrf-2 and CYP11A1 (P<0.01). The most remarkable discovery is that the deleterious effects of BPA on CYP11A1 relative expression were significantly counteracted (P<0.01) by all treatments (DSP, DSNPs 1/10, DSNPs 1/20, cZnO, or ZnO-NPs). Additionally, when compared to BPA, DSNPs 1/10, 1/20, cZnO, or ZnO-NPs significantly boosted the mRNA relative expression levels of Nrf-2 (P<0.01), while the improvement caused by DSP was only numerically not significantly. Furthermore, for either date seeds or zinc oxide, the nanoparticle form performed similarly to the powder form.
BPA demonstrated testicular apoptosis by notably raising the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in comparison to the control group (P<0.001). The negative changes were significantly improved (P<0.001) when DSP, both DSNPs, cZnO and ZnO-NPs dosages were used. Additionally, it was found that DSNPs, in both dosages, outperformed the conventional form in terms of anti-apoptotic activities against BPA (P<0.001).
The histopathological changes detected in the testes, epididymis, seminal vesicles, and prostate glands confirmed the negative effect of BPA on male fertility and also give an evidence about the beneficial roles of Date seeds and zinc oxide, specifically the nanoforms.