protective effect of salvia officinalis on testes tissue damages of rats intoxicated by diazinon

diazinon is an organophosphate which exerts tissue damages by generating free radicals thereby inducing oxidative stress. the purpose of this study is to determine the protective effect of salvia officinalis l.extract on testes of rats intoxicated by diazinon. in this experimental study, 45 mature male rats were equally divided into three groups of control (c), diazinon (dzn) and diazinon-extract (dzn-e). the d-e group received a one-time 200 mg/kg diazinon for the entire period of study and the s. officinalis extract for four weeks (5 days a week) via intraperitoneal injection. the animals were sacrificed 24 hours later. tissue sections were prepared and subjected to microscopic examination. the collected data were statistically analyzed using one way-anova. number of spermatogonia, spermatocytes, spermatids as well as the diameter of seminiferous tubule have been significantly reduced in dzn group compared to those in c group (p<0.05). however compared to the dzn group, the dzn-e group showed increase in the number of the cell types under study and the diameter of seminiferous tubule and these increases were statistically significant (p<0.05). our results indicate that s. officinalis extract minimizes diazinon-mediated tissue damages on testes probably by scavenging free radicals and so reducing toxicity caused due to oxidative stress.