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Evaluating the Effect of Zinc Supplement on Fecundity in Wistar Male Rats and Investigating its Mechanism (Biochemical and Molecular Docking)

Article

Last updated: 01 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Pharmacology & Toxicology

Abstract

Zinc has a crucial role in maintaining reproductive health and fertility by preserving the structural integrity of sperm, boosting sperm parameters, and upgrading the quantity of reproductive hormones. The main aim of the current study was to evaluate the implications of zinc supplementation on the reproductive hormone and inspect the serum and testicular ions levels to know how zinc intake can affect testosterone levels through the LH-mediated ions pathway. Twenty-one fully-grown Wistar male rats weighing 180–200 g were used in this study. The rats were divided into three groups. The control group received saline orally for 56 days. Male rats in group 2 received 4.9 mg/kg zinc sulfate orally. Group 3 rats received 18.1 mg/kg zinc sulfate. This study showed that Zn treatment reduced animal body weight change without influencing reproductive organ weight. After Zn intake, testosterone, LH, and FSH levels were significantly higher than in the control group. Molecular docking showed a close association between zinc and two important biomolecules, the Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory (StAR) protein and the Hsd17b3 enzyme, which are necessary to the testosterone pathway. Zinc ions increased significantly in testicular and serum samples. Zinc supplements boost sperm count and reduce deformities. Sperm motility and germinal epithelium thickness decreased with high Zn intake. Our data indicate that 4.9 mg/day of zinc is better than 18.1 mg/day, the upper intake limit. Extreme consumption harms reproductive hormones, calcium ions, and sperm motility.

DOI

10.21608/ejvs.2024.277617.1932

Keywords

Zinc sulfate, Wistar rats, Reproductive health, docking

Authors

First Name

Hussein

Last Name

Hamed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Biotechnology Department, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Email

ihmhi@hotmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed

Last Name

Shehata

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Chemistry Department, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Email

mrshehata_05@hotmail.com

City

Giza

Orcid

-

First Name

Heba

Last Name

Abd El Rahman

MiddleName

Ali

Affiliation

Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Email

hebaabdelrahmana15@cu.edu.eg

City

El Giza

Orcid

-

Volume

56

Article Issue

6

Related Issue

48121

Issue Date

2025-06-01

Receive Date

2024-03-18

Publish Date

2025-06-01

Page Start

1,369

Page End

1,384

Print ISSN

1110-0222

Online ISSN

2357-089X

Link

https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/article_361710.html

Detail API

https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=361710

Order

361,710

Type

Original Article

Type Code

140

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Veterinary Sciences

Publication Link

https://ejvs.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Evaluating the Effect of Zinc Supplement on Fecundity in Wistar Male Rats and Investigating its Mechanism (Biochemical and Molecular Docking)

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Dec 2024