Is There a Role for Spirulina Platensis against Reprotoxicity and Oxidative Stress Induced by Gamma Irradiation in Rats?

Ionizing radiation is one of the environmental factors that may contribute to reproductive dysfunction by a mechanism involving oxidative stress. The present investigation was undertaken to study the possible effect of Spirulina platensis (300 mg/kg body weight) daily for 60 days post whole body gamma irradiation of rats at a dose level of 6 Gy. The samples were collected at two times intervals, two weeks and two months. In serum, the concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), as well as, levels of testosterone, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) were evaluated. In tissue, DNA fragmentation was estimated by using comet assay technique, in addition to superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reduced glutathione (GSH). The biochemical results revealed that the fragmentation of DNA increased in irradiated groups at both time intervals (after 2 weeks & 2 months) as compared to control. The disruption in the hormonal levels of testosterone, FSH and LH was demonstrated in the serum of the irradiated and/or Spirulina rats. On the other hand, the administration of Spirulina after irradiation decreased the elevation of serum NO induced by irradiation and improved the significant reduction of antioxidant enzymes level near to control. Moreover, histopathological observations showed great deleterious changes in the structure of testis tissue as a result of irradiation exposure, while the administration of Spirulina restored the structure of testis cell and no changes appeared. These results suggesting that Spirulina contains bioactive metabolites have detrimental effect on steroidogenesis and beneficial role in improving the antioxidant status