OBJECTIVE - Genitourinary tract infections play a significant role in male infertility. Infections of reproductive sex glands, such as the prostate, impair function and indirectly affect male fertility. The general aim of this study is to investigate the protective effect of Korean red ginseng (KRG) on prostatitis in male rats treated with ciprofloxacin (CIPX).
MATERIALS AND METHODS - In this experimental study, we randomly divided 72 two male Wistar rats into 9 groups. The groups were treated as follows for 10 days: i. Control (no medication), ii. Sham [(normal saline injection into the vas deferens and oral administration of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)], iii. Ginseng, iv. CPIX, v. CIPX+ginseng, vi. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) (UPEC), vii. UPEC+ginseng, viii. UPEC+CIPX, and ix. UPEC+ginseng+CIPX. The rats were killed 14 days after the last injection and the prostate glands were removed. After sample preparation, routine histology was performed using hematoxylin and eosin staining. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) method was used to determine the presence of apoptotic cells.
RESULTS - The severity score for acinar changes and inflammatory cell infiltration in the UPEC+CIPX group did not significantly different from the UPEC group. However this score significantly decreased in the UPEC+CIPX+ginseng group compared to the UPEC group. Apoptotic index of all ginseng treated groups significantly decreased compared to the UPEC and CPIX groups.
CONCLUSIONS - These results suggested that ginseng might be an effective adjunct in CIPX treatment of prostatitis. The combined use ginseng and CIPX was more effective than ginseng or CIPX alone.
Cell journal. 2016 Apr 04 [Epub]
Maryam Miri, Saeid Shokri, Shahram Darabi, Mahmood Alipour Heidari, Akhgar Ghalyanchi, Mohammad Hassan Karimfar, Reza Shirazi
Department of Anatomical Sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran., Department of Anatomical Sciences, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran., Department of Anatomical Sciences, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran., Department of Biostatistics, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran., Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran., Department of Anatomical Sciences, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran., Department of Anatomical Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27054125 Full Text Article