Abstract

Background: Zingiber officinale is used extensively both as a culinary spice and herbal medicine for the treatment of different ailments.

Aim: This study investigated the role of ginger in the Kiss1 gene expression in the testis of Wistar rats.

Methods: Fifteen (15) rats with an average weight of 104g were randomly divided into three (3) groups (A-C). Group A was given no treatment and served as the normal control group. Groups B and C received oral administration of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of methanolic extract of Zingiber officinale (MEZO) respectively. The extract was administered once a day for 21 days.

Results: There was no significant difference in the testicular oxidative status, LH, FSH, TT, sperm motility, sperm count, and sperm morphology across all experimental groups (p < 0.05) except for group C where a significant decrease in sperm morphology was observed compared to the control (p = 0.007). Some vascular congestions with visible aggregates of inflammatory red cells were also observed in group C testes. The relative intensity of Kiss1 gene expression observed in the testis is significantly higher than that in the blood at 200 mg/kg of MEZO (CI: -1.39 - (-0.05), p = 0.045) with a significant negative correlation between the sperm count and the relative intensity of KISS1 gene expression in the blood (r = -.882, p = 0.20).

Conclusion: MEZO does not affect the Kiss1 gene expression levels in the testis and blood of Wistar rats but shows the potential of causing sperm morphological disruptions due to testicular inflammatory response at a high dose.

Keywords: Zingiber officinale; Sperm Count; Sperm Morphology; Sperm Motility; Kiss1; Kisspeptin; Ginger; Gene Expression; Hormones; Testis; Histology; Oxidative Markers

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Citation

Citation: Izuchukwu Azuka Okafor., et al. “Zingiber officinale (Ginger) Extract has No Effect on Kiss1 Gene Expression in the Testis and Blood but May Cause Inflammation-induced Morphological Sperm Disruptions in Wistar Rats". Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 4.12 (2020): 17-25.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Izuchukwu Azuka Okafor., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.