Background: Paracetamol is widely used analgesic which was wrongly thought to be entirely harmless by lots of people. Curcumin has many pharmacological uses such as antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anticancer.
The aim of the Work: This study aimed to evaluate the histopathological effects of paracetamol on testicular tissue and how far curcumin can protect testicular tissue from these changes.
Material and Methods: Twenty eight adult rats were used in this work. Rats were equally divided into four groups. Group I: the control group was divided into(subgroup a,b given distilled water ,corn oil respectively ),Group II: was given curcumin 50mg\kg body weight, Group III: was given single daily dose of paracetamol 500mg\ kg for five days ,Group IV: pretreated with curcumin 50mg\kg\body weight for 10 days then received single daily dose of paracetamol 500mg\kg in association with curcumin for five days. In the present work, the sperm count, histological and immunohistochemical,biochemical and morphometric studies were evaluated.
Results: Paracetamol caused loss of normal architecture of testicular tissue, wide interstitial spaces , loss of stratal arrangement of germinal epithelium with intercellular spacing. Also,reduction in number of +ve vimentin staining Sertoli cells and marked decrease in number and intensity of PCNA positive cells with increased oxidative stress in testicular tissue. Curcumin protected testis against these alterations.
Conclusion: Curcumin, is effective in reducing paracetamol testicular toxicity in albino rat, by ameliorating oxidative stress, histopathological and immunhistochemical changes and restoring the normal testicular tissue architecture and function and this can be considered for humans.