Evaluation of ribavirin reproductive toxicity. the possible protective role of zingiber officinale. an experimental study

Ribavirin [RBV] is a broad spectrum antiviral drug. This study aimed to evaluate the reproductive toxicity of RBV and the possible protective effect of Zingiber Officinale [ginger]. Sixty adult male albino rats were grouped into six groups [ten rats each]. Groups received distilled water ginger alone, 20mg/kg RBV, 100mg/kg RBV, 20mg/kg RBV+100 mg/kg ginger and 100 mg/kg RBV+ 100mg/kg ginger intraperitoneally for 5 consecutive days respectively. The last two groups continued receiving ginger alone for additional 42 days then sacrificed. Reproductive toxicity was evaluated through determining the testicular weight changes, epididymal sperm count as well as sperm morphological changes. Testicular tissues were examined under light microscope for assessment of any pathological structural changes. The result revealed that: testicular weight only showed significant decrease in high dose RBV treated group, Sperm count was significantly lowered in the two RBV treated groups [P < 0.05]. The two used RBV doses induced significant increase in the number of abnormal sperms [P<0.05]. The incidence of sperm morphological anomalies was dose dependent. Results also revealed that administration of 100 mg ginger/kg/day significantly corrected the decrease in the testicular weight and the lowered sperm count to nearly normal levels. Moreover, ginger treatment lowered the total number of abnormal sperms even though the anomalies were still significantly higher than the control. Histopathologically, RBV induced gaps, vacuoles, and sloughing of the germinal epithelium of the seminiferous epithelium. The observed pathological defects showed complete recovery by continued ginger treatment. Our findings suggest that RBV is a toxic agent for rat testes and epididymis as it has serious effects on sperm count and sperm morphology. Ginger treatment exhibited beneficial effects enhancing sperm healthy parameters

Hazards of long term cellular telephone use and the possible associated brain risk

Cellular telephones are low-power radio devices that transmit and receive electromagnetic radiation at frequencies ranging between 900 megahertz and 1800 gigahertz. The aim of the present study was to investigate the adverse effects of long-term exposure to low level radio frequency electromagnetic signals currently used in digital mobile telecommunications on albino rats' brain. Ninety male albino rats were included in the current study which were further subdivided into four groups [negative control, sham exposed, 30 minutes period exposed and 60 minutes period exposed].The rats were exposed daily for 3 months to mobile phone electromagnetic signals of 900 megahertz for different time durations. At the end of the study, sixty animals were sacrificed while the rest animals were left unexposed to any electromagnetic signals for further 30 days then sacrificed later on. Brains from all sacrificed animals were fixed and immunohistochemically stained using albumin antibody. Serial sections from fixed tissues were also stained for RNA/ DNA with cresyl violet. The results had shown significant evidences for breakdown in blood brain barrier, positive albumin leakage and neuronal damage. Neuronal damage was recorded in the cortex, hippocampus and the basal ganglia as well. The neuronal albumin leakage and other detected changes would seem to indicate a serious neuronal damage. The study showed that long term exposure to EMF signals was found to destroy cells in parts of the rats' brain important for memory, movement and learning which could possibly cause premature onset of illnesses such as Alzheimers. Furthermore, the resultant changes were still persistent in rats left untreated for one additional month. In conclusion, these findings suggest that frequent exposure to mobile phone signals might carry a risk for chronic users. It is worthy to advice for minimizing the mobile phone use as much as possible