Biochemical Efficacy of Nigella Sativa Oil and Metformin on Induced Diabetic Male Rats

Abstract

This study was carried out to investigate possible beneficial effects of Nigella sativa oil supplementation to diabetic rats. Fifty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 10/group) as follows: group I (normal control), group II (diabetic control), group III (diabetic rats treated with metformin), group IV (diabetic rats treated with metformin and Nigella sativa oil) and group V (diabetic rats treated with Nigella sativa oil). Insulin, testosterone, male gametogenic hormones, insulin resistance, serum lipid profile, testicular redox state, relative weight of testes, tail of epididymis, accessory sex glands (prostate and seminal gland), epididymal sperm count, alive sperm percent and abnormalities percent were estimated. Results revealed improvement in the studied parameters within group III, IV and V compared with non treated diabetic group with better improvement in group IV. Conclusion: co-administration of metformin and Nigella sativa oil could result in better regulation of diabetes and diabetes induced subfertility in male rats due to hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant properties of Nigella sativa.