Antioxidant properties of Pelargonium graveolens L’Her essential oil on the reproductive damage induced by deltamethrin in mice as compared to alpha-tocopherol

Ben Slima et al. Lipids in Health and Disease 2013, 12:30 http://www.lipidworld.com/content/12/1/30 RESEARCH Open Access Antioxidant properties of Pelargonium graveolens L’Her essential oil on the reproductive damage induced by deltamethrin in mice as compared to alpha-tocopherol Ahlem Ben Slima1, Manel Ben Ali2†, Mohamed Barkallah1†, Al Ibrahim Traore3, Tahia Boudawara4, Noureddine Allouche2 and Radhouane Gdoura1* Abstract Background: Exposure to the pyrethroid pesticide deltamethrin has been demonstrated to exert a wide range of effects on non-targeted organisms. The beneficial effects of geranuim essential oil (EO) as an antioxidant has been assessed in deltamethrin (DL) orally administered mice by studying whether the reprotoxicity caused by deltamethrin can be effectively combated with the geranium oil and the effects were compared to vitamin E, as the standard reference drug. Result: Sixty male albino mice were divided into six equal groups: a control group, a group of mice was given deltamethrin (5 mg/kg b.w.), two groups were administered deltamethrin after having given geranium essential oil (67 mg/kg b.w.) or vitamin E (Vit E) (100 mg/kg b.w.), and two groups received only EO of geranium or Vit E. When compared to control, a dose of deltamethrin 5 mg/kg/day causes a decrease in the epididymal sperm count motility and viability and an increase in the number of abnormal morphology in spermatozoa. DL-exposed mice showed a significant increase of lipid peroxidation (LPP) in the testis compared to control animals. Conclusion: Essential oil of geranium prevented testicular oxidative damage explored by reduced LPP and improved total sperm motility, viability and morphology in mice spermatozoa. Our study showed a positive influence of geranium essential oil in the animal male reproductive system similar than that of Vit E. Keywords: Deltamethrin, Oxidative damages, Geranium oil, Antioxidants Background The increasing release of chemicals into the environment dictates attention to a better under-standing of their toxicity in human and ecotoxicological effects. Many studies suggest that environmental contaminants disrupt male reproduction and play an important role in the declination of the quality and quantity of human semen [1]. Several currently used pesticides are known to adversely impair reproductive competence of males under laboratory, field, clinical or occupational setting. Published studies reported that pyrethrinoid can impair fertility, deteriorate semen * Correspondence: † Equal contributors 1 Unit Research of Toxicology-Microbiology Environmental and Health UR11ES70, Sciences Faculty of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article quality, and cause testicular degeneration, male reproductive failure and malformations in the foetuses in the rodents following repeated exposure [2,3]. Deltamethrin [(R, S)] is a type-II pyrethroid synthetic insecticide, which has been widely used to control noxious insects in agriculture, forestry and horticulture. However, a number of studies have demonstrated genotoxic and tumorogenic effects of deltamethrin in mammalian and non-mammalian species [4,5]. For many pesticides, induction of oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms of their action. The chronic exposure to deltamethrin caused also haemolysis, hepatic, renal toxicities [6] and neurodegeneration [7]. The mechanism of such pathological facts may be prompted by the free radical release and the lipid peroxidation that it induces. During the past few years, estimation of free radical © 2013 Ben Slima et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ben Slima et al. Lipids in Health and Disease 2013, 12:30 http://www.lipidworld.com/content/12/1/30 generation and antioxidants defense has become an important aspect of investigation in mammals for the protection of cells against oxidative damage due to pesticides [8], heavy metals [9] and chemotherapeutic agent toxicities that they generated probably oxygen-reactive species (ROS) which led to oxidative stress. Rose-scented geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L’Hér.) is widely known as one of the medicinal herbs with the highest antioxidant activity. Essential oils are a folk medicine and recently their use has expanded worldwide to include therapy against various kinds of inflammatory diseases. A great number of new drugs discovered in the last few decades are originate from natural sources [10]. Natural products have been increasingly used for the prevention and treatment of various conditions [11,12]. Geranium essential oil has historically been used in the treatment of dysentery, hemorrhoids, inflammation, heavy menstrual flows and even cancer [13]. The French medicinal community currently treats diabetes, diarrhoea, gallbladder problems, gastric ulcers, liver problems, sterility and urinary stones with this oil [14,15]. In Chinese homeopathy, the geranium essential oil is known to open up the liver charka and promote the expulsion of toxins that prohibit the achievement of balance within the body [16]. The aim of the current study was to determine the components of Pelargonium graveolens essential oil and to evaluate its protective effects against deltamethrin-induced reprotoxicity in male mice. Page 2 of 9 three times with diethyl ether. The recovered organic solvent was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate until the last traces of water were removed and evaporated by vacuum distillation at room temperature to yield greenish yellow oil. The obtained essential oil was stored in a dark glass bottle at 4°C until tested and analyzed. Yield based on dried weight of the sample was calculated. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) The analysis of the essential oil was performed on a GC– MS HP model 5975B inert MSD (Agilent Technologies, J&W Scientific Products, Palo Alto, CA, USA), equipped with an Agilent Technologies capillary DB-5MS column (30 m length; 0.25 mm i.d.; 0.25 μm film thickness), and coupled to a mass selective detector (MSD5975B, ionization voltage 70 eV; all Agilent, Santa Clara, CA). The carrier gas was He and was used at 1 ml/min flow rate. The oven temperature program was as follows: 1 min at 100°C ramped from 100 to 260°C at 4°C min-1 and 10 min at 260°C. The chromatograph was equipped with a split/splitless injector used in the split mode. The split ratio was 1:100. Identification of components was assigned by matching their mass spectra with Wiley and NIST library data, standards of the main components and comparing their Kovats Retention Indices (KRI) with reference libraries and from the literature [17,18]. The component concentration was obtained using s (...truncated)