Oligomeric proanthocyanidins intervention study on the intergenerational effects of male reproductive system in bisphenol a-exposed rats / Siti Aishah Zulazlan

Infertility is among the diverse pathological conditions that beset the human society. Birth rate in developed countries has dwindled over the years and medical cases reported related to infertility especially amongst men are increasing dramatically. Oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC) is one of the most powerful antioxidants that can be found naturally in the bark, seeds, fruits and leaves of a vast range of plants in the plant kingdom that helps to cure male infertility. A total of 36 male Sprague Dawley male rats, weighing approximately 300 grams were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=6) and labeled as negative control (NEC) group, positive control (POC) group, low dose OPC (OPC 10) group, high dose OPC (OPC20) group, BPA plus low dose OPC (BPA+OPC10) group and BPA plus high dose OPC (BPA+OPC20) group. Unlike in NEC, OPC 10 and OPC20 groups, rats in POC, BPA+OPC10 and BPA+OPC20 groups were exposed to 200 mg/kg of bisphenol A (BPA) for 21 days. rats in BPA+OPC10 and BPA+OPC20 groups were then supplemented with 10 ug/kg body weight and 20 ug/kg body weight OPC, respectively. However, rats in OPC 10 and OPC20 were only supplemented with respective dosage of OPC in the absence of BPA induction. After 21 days of treatment and supplementation, the male rats were randomly mated with female rats with a ratio of 1:1 to produce the Fi generation. After the females were confirmed to be pregnant, the P generation male rats were euthanized; their sperm, blood and testes were collected to be analyzed. Similar analyses were conducted on the Fi generation after reaching 10 weeks old. The results showed that OPC possessed powerful antioxidative characteristics and was able to alleviate the detrimental intergenerational effects of BPA. Most of the parameters analyzed in BPA+OPC10 and BPA+OPC20 groups showed a significant increase in terms of their sperm concentration, motility, anogenital distance and seminiferous epithelial height in comparison to those of the NEC and POC groups (p