How the profilactic usage of curcumin affects the PARP-1 immunoreactivity and spermatogenesis in scrotal radiotherapy?

The lethal effects of acute doses of radiation on fertility are well known. Germ cells are killed or damaged within a short time of exposure to radiation. In recent years, radiotherapy of patients with cancer has led to an increased number of sustained remissions. However, among the long-term side effects of radiation, injury to the reproductive system is of particular concern. Many papers have been reported so far on the antioxidant effect of curcumin. The present study, we hypothesized that curcumin can minimize germ-cell depletion and morphological features of late cell damage in the rat testis following X-irradiation. The animals were divided into 4 groups: the first group was the control and the other three were the experimental groups. 6 Gy X ray in a single fraction was applied into the scrotal areas of the subjects except the control and curcumin groups in order to form radiation damage. The rats in the second and forth groups were given curcumin (a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight) orally three times a week during a seven-week period, beginning the week before radiation therapy. The rats in the first and third groups received serum physiologic in the same way. Testis biopsy samples from the all groups were taken on the 7th week. All samples were processed and observed at the light microscopic levels. In the present study, radiation exposure caused severe degenerative changes in testes. Spermatogenesis had arrested in seminiferous tubules and the majority of the tubules were found to be atrophic, absent of germ cells. It was identified that curcumin hadn?t been effective in the prevention of all damages caused by radiation.