Protective effect of curcumin agains gamma-radiation on testis of Rats

Introduction: Radiation therapy is a stage of therapeutic in the management of tumors that causes normal cells damage. So, Radioprotective drugs injected before radiotherapy to reduce cell damages and death against ionizing radiation. Curcumin is an antioxidant compound. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible protective effect of curcumin against Gamma-Radiation in male rats. Methods: 70 adult male wistar rats randomly divided into 10 groups including: control, sham, Experimental 1 (treatment with maximum of curcumin in amount of 100 mg/ml), Experimental 2 (treatment with medium of curcumin in amount of 50 mg/ml), Experimental 3 (treatment with minimum of curcumin in amount of 25 mg/ml), Experimental 4 (treatment with curcumin in amount of maximum+radiation), Experimental 5 (treatment with curcumin in amount of medium+radiation), Experimental 6 (treatment with curcumin in amount of minimum+radiation), Experimental 7 (solvent+radiation), Experimental 8 (exposure to irradiation). All animals recived Intraperitoneal injection.following, the testis were fixed and section stained with Haematoxyline & Eosin for 15 days Then with using a microscope equipped with a scaled ocular micrometer and image analysis software were histomorphometry. Results: This study showed that Gamma-radiation with dose of 2 Gy caused severe degeneration changes in testicular tissue include significantl decrease of epithelium thickness and the number of spermtogonia, spermatid and spermatozoaand significantly increased the proportion of lumen diameter to seminiferous tubule diameter (P<0.05) and primary spermatocyte compare with control group. So treatment with curcumin balances adverse effects of Gamma-radiation on testis structure and spermatogenesis and leads toaward normal position.