O-2: Co-Administration of Korean Red Ginseng and Ciprofloxacin May Improve The Sperm Quality and Apoptosis of Testes in Epididymo-Orchitis Rat Model Induced by Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli

Background Adverse effects of genitourinary tracts infections on the reproductive system of male are known. Some of these effects are caused by oxidative events. Ciprofloxacin is a choice antibacterial agent in the treatment of these infections. It has been shown that this drug can also induce apoptosis through the activation of the enzyme caspase-3 and oxidative damages in target tissues. With this background, the evaluation of the effectiveness of antioxidants on the adverse effects of antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin is expanding. It is also shown that vegetative antioxidants such as Ginseng may be useful in the treatment of male infertility and causes increase of the sperm production rate and testosterone level. Therefore, in this study, with the aid of UPEC infection model, we tried to prove the possible protective role of Ginseng on apoptosis induced by infection and treatment with ciprofloxacin in Spermatogenesis cell type in rates testicular system. MaterialsAndMethods In this study, 72 male Wistar rats were selected and randomly divided into 9 groups (8 rats each) such as; control (Con), vehicle (V), infection (M39), ciprofloxacin (C), ginseng (G), ciprofloxacin-ginseng (CG), infectionciprofloxacin (CM), infection-ginseng (GM), infection-ciprofloxacin- ginseng (CGM). First by injection of 50μl (OD=0.06) E. coli suspension (M39) in the beginning of Vazodefefernce tubes, bilaterally,we created UPEC infection models. 48 hours after infection was made, ciprofloxacin applied orally150 mg/ kg daily for 10 days via gastric duct. Then Ginseng 15 mg/kg daily through intraperitoneal (ip) injection applied for 10 days. 14 days later,all animals were anesthetized and the epididymis tissues were immediately removed. Epididymis tail was used for sperm analysis. Testes excised and after weight measurements, the samples immersed in formaldehyde solution. After tissue processing, for tissue structure evaluation, the Miller criteria (to assess layers of Seminiferrous tubes of epithelial cells) and Johnson (for the classification of spermatogenesis) and for testicular apoptosis evaluation TUNEL kit were used. Results M39 infection caused weight gain and testes and accessory sex organs (epididymis, seminal vesicles and prostate gland) weight lost and also reduces the sperm indices such as sperm count, motility and persentage of normal cells and increased apoptosis indices and sperm abnormality index (P