Insight to fennel-induced impact on estrogen receptor α (ERα) in testicular tissue; an experimental trial

Background: Fennel is an estrogen mimic agent, which promotes folliculogenesis, serum levels of estrogen, progesterone and prolactin. The estrogen and its nuclear receptor ERα are known as core elements involving in spermatogenesis. Minding the estrogen mimic effect of fennel and considering adverse effect of exogenous estrogens in male reproduction potential, present study was done to analyze the ERα expression in testicular tissue.Methods: To follow-up present study, animals were divided into 4 control and test groups. The test groups received fennel at low (0.37 mg/kg b.W), medium (0.75 mg/kg b.W), and high doses (1.5 mg/kg b.W) for 35 continuing days. The mRNA and protein levels of ERα were analyzed by using reverse-transcriptase PCR, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess ERα-positive cells distribution/one mm2 of tissue. Moreover, pixel based frequency analyses were performed to assay ERα-positive reactions intensity.Result: The mRNA level of ERα was significantly increased in 0.75 mg/kg fennel-received group and remarkably diminished in both 0.37 mg/kg and 1.5 mg/kg fennel-received groups. In contrast to RT-PCR results, the IHC analyses showed that, the fennel enhanced the ERα expression dose dependently.Conclusion: Our data showed that, fennel exerts phenotypically different effects on the ERα transcription and synthesis. Accordingly, it up-regulates protein stability, while it actively inflicts the expression at 0.75 mg/kg and suppresses the expression at 0.37 mg/kg and 1.5 mg/kg dose levels.

کلیدواژه ها:

Estrogen Receptor-α ، Mice ، Testis ، Fennel