Effects of aqueous extract of Salvia officinalis on some parameters of sperms and histopathological changes in testes of rats treated with Doxorubicin

Doxorubicin drug is an anti-cancer substance, but unwanted side effects result from its use. The objective of this research is to study the possibility of whether the Sage plant extract has the ability to reduce the harmful effects of the drug in question. Male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) which are sexually mature were divided into four groups (8 each); the control group injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with a saline solution, DOX group injected i.p. weekly with doxorubicin (DOX) drug at a dose of 4 mg/kg for 7 weeks; DOX and Salvia group were injected i.p. weekly with a dose of DOX of 4 mg/kg for 7 weeks and swallow daily oral Sage leaf extract at a dose of 85 mg/kg for the same period and Salvia group swallow daily Sage leaf extract rate of 85 mg/kg for 7 weeks. After completion of the experiment animals were dissected to get samples of testes to prepare textile sections for routine histopathological examination and the reproductive capacity of the adult rats were done. The histopathological examination in doxorubicin-treated rats, either with or without Salvia extract, revealed germ cell depletion, a significant (p<0.05) decrease in primary spermatocytes and spermatids, multinucleated formations of spermatids and germ cell showing apoptotic characteristics. Significant (p<0.05) reduction of seminiferous tubule volume was observed in all doxorubicin-treated subgroups and increased interstitial spaces as compared with control. In the salvia treated group there were a significant (p<0.05) increase in sperms motility, decreased percentage of dead and abnormalities of sperms and significant (p<0.05) increase in diameters of seminiferous tubules, primary spermatocytes and spermatids and decrease interstitial spaces compared with DOX-treated groups.