Effects of Nigella sativa (Habbatus sauda) Oil and Nicotine Chronic Treatments on Sperm Parameters and Testis Histological Features of Rats

Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley male rats (7-9 weeks old, 200-250 g) were divided into Nicotine (N) (0.5 mg/100 g body weight (BW), Nicotine Control (NC) (saline, 0.1 mL/100 g BW), Habbatus sauda oil (HS) (6.0  μ L/100 g BW), and Habbatus sauda Control (HSC) (corn oil, 0.1 mL/100 g BW) groups and treated for 100 days. Sperm parameters and seminiferous tubules measurements were evaluated. The N showed a significantly lower sperm motility (1.03 ± 0.05 × 10(6) sperm/mL) and percentage of normal (82.61 ± 0.03%) and live (93.88 ± 0.01%) sperm, higher value for the seminiferous tubule (253.36 ± 1.83  μ m) and lumen (100.15 ± 2.38  μ m) diameters and spermatogonia (19.85 ± 0.39  μ m) and spermatocytes (33.37 ± 0.59  μ m) layers, and thinner spermatid-sperm layer (22.14 ± 0.71  μ m) than the NC (P < 0.05). The HS had significantly higher sperm motility (1.49 ± 0.04 × 10(6) sperm/mL) and percentage of normal (90.61 ± 0.01%) and live (96.98 ± 0.01%) sperm, smaller lumen diameter (67.53 ± 2.34  μ m) and thinner spermatogonia (17.67 ± 0.32  μ m) and wider spermatid-sperm (36.95 ± 0.79  μ m) layers than the HSC (P < 0.05). This research confirmed that nicotine reduced sperm motility and morphology of normal and live sperms and also affected the testis histology, while Habbatus sauda oil increased sperm quality and gave better testis histological features.