Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Astragalus polysaccharide relieves reproductive toxicity in phenobarbital-treated epileptic rats

Jun Lu¹ , Hou-pan Song², Qin-hui Tuo², Qi-chang Zeng¹, Qin Wang¹, Ya-hui Huang¹

¹Epilepsy Treatment Center, Hunan Province Brain Hospital, Hunan, 410007; ²Department of Pharmacology, Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 410000, China.

For correspondence:- Jun Lu Email: lujun9105@163.com

Accepted: 18 April 2018 Published: 28 May 2018

Citation: Lu J, Song H, Tuo Q, Zeng Q, Wang Q, Huang Y. Astragalus polysaccharide relieves reproductive toxicity in phenobarbital-treated epileptic rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(5):809-815 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i5.9

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the underlying mechanisms by which Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) relieves the reproductive toxicity induced by phenobarbital (PB) treatment in epileptic rats.

Methods: Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay kits were used to quantify cell apoptosis in an epileptic rat model. The weight of sex organs and levels of three reproductive hormones, viz, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone, were measured in order to evaluate the effect of APS administration on reproductive ability. Concentration, motility, morphology as well as fertilization rate of sperms were analyzed as well.

Results: Increase in sex organ weight and decrease in apoptosis were both associated with oral APS treatment. In APS-treated group, FSH, LH, and testosterone levels were raised while concentration, motility and normal morphology of sperm also increased. This was consistent with the observed increase in fertilization rate. In addition, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of the testis was performed in the epileptic rat model showed that the size of cell lumen increased in APS-treated group. All APS-associated phenotypes occurred in a concentration-dependent manner.

Conclusion: These data suggest that APS lowers reproductive toxicity in PB-treated epileptic rats by regulating the reproductive hormones, FSH, LH and testosterone, and also by altering the concentration, motility, and morphology of sperm. Thus, APS has a potential treatment for minimizing the side effects of antiepileptic drugs.

Keywords: Astragalus polysaccharide, Reproductive toxicity, Phenobarbital, Epileptic rats