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Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility

Varicocele is one of the main causes of infertility in men. Oxidative stress and consequently apoptosis activation contribute to varicocele pathogenesis, worsening its prognosis. Natural products, such as lycopene, showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in several experimental models, also...

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Autores principales: Antonuccio, Pietro, Micali, Antonio, Puzzolo, Domenico, Romeo, Carmelo, Vermiglio, Giovanna, Squadrito, Violetta, Freni, Jose, Pallio, Giovanni, Trichilo, Vincenzo, Righi, Maria, Irrera, Natasha, Altavilla, Domenica, Squadrito, Francesco, Marini, Herbert R., Minutoli, Letteria
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32466161
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12051536
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author Antonuccio, Pietro
Micali, Antonio
Puzzolo, Domenico
Romeo, Carmelo
Vermiglio, Giovanna
Squadrito, Violetta
Freni, Jose
Pallio, Giovanni
Trichilo, Vincenzo
Righi, Maria
Irrera, Natasha
Altavilla, Domenica
Squadrito, Francesco
Marini, Herbert R.
Minutoli, Letteria
author_facet Antonuccio, Pietro
Micali, Antonio
Puzzolo, Domenico
Romeo, Carmelo
Vermiglio, Giovanna
Squadrito, Violetta
Freni, Jose
Pallio, Giovanni
Trichilo, Vincenzo
Righi, Maria
Irrera, Natasha
Altavilla, Domenica
Squadrito, Francesco
Marini, Herbert R.
Minutoli, Letteria
author_sort Antonuccio, Pietro
collection PubMed
description Varicocele is one of the main causes of infertility in men. Oxidative stress and consequently apoptosis activation contribute to varicocele pathogenesis, worsening its prognosis. Natural products, such as lycopene, showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in several experimental models, also in testes. In this study we investigated lycopene effects in an experimental model of varicocele. Male rats (n = 14) underwent sham operations and were administered with vehicle (n = 7) or with lycopene (n = 7; 1 mg/kg i.p., daily). Another group of animals (n = 14) underwent surgical varicocele. After 28 days, the sham and 7 varicocele animals were euthanized, and both operated and contralateral testes were weighted and processed. The remaining rats were treated with lycopene (1 mg/kg i.p., daily) for 30 days. Varicocele rats showed reduced testosterone levels, testes weight, Bcl-2 mRNA expression, changes in testes structure and increased malondialdehyde levels and BAX gene expression. TUNEL (Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase dUTP Nick End Labeling) assay showed an increased number of apoptotic cells. Treatment with lycopene significantly increased testosterone levels, testes weight, and Bcl-2 mRNA expression, improved tubular structure and decreased malondialdehyde levels, BAX mRNA expression and TUNEL-positive cells. The present results show that lycopene exerts beneficial effects in testes, and suggest that supplementation with the tomato-derived carotenoid might be considered a novel nutraceutical strategy for the treatment of varicocele and male infertility.
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spelling pubmed-72848882020-06-17 Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility Antonuccio, Pietro Micali, Antonio Puzzolo, Domenico Romeo, Carmelo Vermiglio, Giovanna Squadrito, Violetta Freni, Jose Pallio, Giovanni Trichilo, Vincenzo Righi, Maria Irrera, Natasha Altavilla, Domenica Squadrito, Francesco Marini, Herbert R. Minutoli, Letteria Nutrients Article Varicocele is one of the main causes of infertility in men. Oxidative stress and consequently apoptosis activation contribute to varicocele pathogenesis, worsening its prognosis. Natural products, such as lycopene, showed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in several experimental models, also in testes. In this study we investigated lycopene effects in an experimental model of varicocele. Male rats (n = 14) underwent sham operations and were administered with vehicle (n = 7) or with lycopene (n = 7; 1 mg/kg i.p., daily). Another group of animals (n = 14) underwent surgical varicocele. After 28 days, the sham and 7 varicocele animals were euthanized, and both operated and contralateral testes were weighted and processed. The remaining rats were treated with lycopene (1 mg/kg i.p., daily) for 30 days. Varicocele rats showed reduced testosterone levels, testes weight, Bcl-2 mRNA expression, changes in testes structure and increased malondialdehyde levels and BAX gene expression. TUNEL (Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase dUTP Nick End Labeling) assay showed an increased number of apoptotic cells. Treatment with lycopene significantly increased testosterone levels, testes weight, and Bcl-2 mRNA expression, improved tubular structure and decreased malondialdehyde levels, BAX mRNA expression and TUNEL-positive cells. The present results show that lycopene exerts beneficial effects in testes, and suggest that supplementation with the tomato-derived carotenoid might be considered a novel nutraceutical strategy for the treatment of varicocele and male infertility. MDPI 2020-05-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7284888/ /pubmed/32466161 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12051536 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Antonuccio, Pietro
Micali, Antonio
Puzzolo, Domenico
Romeo, Carmelo
Vermiglio, Giovanna
Squadrito, Violetta
Freni, Jose
Pallio, Giovanni
Trichilo, Vincenzo
Righi, Maria
Irrera, Natasha
Altavilla, Domenica
Squadrito, Francesco
Marini, Herbert R.
Minutoli, Letteria
Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title_full Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title_fullStr Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title_full_unstemmed Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title_short Nutraceutical Effects of Lycopene in Experimental Varicocele: An “In Vivo” Model to Study Male Infertility
title_sort nutraceutical effects of lycopene in experimental varicocele: an “in vivo” model to study male infertility
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7284888/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32466161
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu12051536
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