Pomegranate juice treatment prevents carbon tetrachloride(CCl4)-induced testicular damage in rats : a biochemical and histological study

Kalkan, Ömer Faruk (author), Türk, Ahmet (author), Çitil, Cihan (author), Uçkun, Miraç (author), Özkaya, Ahmet (author), Yoloğlu, Ertan (author), Özay, Yusuf (author), Bülbül, Şeyda Çağri (author), Akgül, Nadir Bilgin (author), Şahin, Zafer (author), Kirbaş, Akin (author)

We investigated the side effects of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) on testicular tissue and explored the protective effects of pomegranate juice (PJ) against CCl4 expo-sure. Twenty-eight male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into four groups as follows: Control, PJ, CCl4, and CCl4+PJ. We assessed serum testosterone levels and evaluated carboxylesterase (CaE), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathi-one reductase (GR) and glutathione Stransferase (GST) parameters. Histopathological changes were examined using CD68 immunoreactivity to detect macrophage activity. Analysis revealed a significant increase in CaE activity in the PJ group that compared to the control group (p < 0.05). CCl4 exposure reduced CaE activity, which was partially restored by PJ in the CCl4+PJ group (p < 0.05). PJ also significantly reduced the elevated MDA levels induced by CCl4 (p < 0.05). CCl4 alone decreased the reduced glutathione (GSH) levels (p < 0.05), however PJ had no effect on GSH levels (p > 0.05). Neither CCl4 nor PJ had an effect on glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity (p > 0.05). In conclusion, PJ reversed histological damage and restored reduced testosterone levels. Furthermore, it alleviated CCl4-induced oxidative stress by utilizing an alternative antioxidant system rather than glutathione.

• Language: English
• Keywords: CCl4 toxicity, infertility, pomegranate juice, carboxylesterase, oxidative stress, histopathology
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: VF - Veterinary Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 83-93
• Numbering: Vol. 62, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185525
• UDC: 636.09:616
• ISSN on article: 2385-8761
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285374467
• Publication date in RUL: 07.08.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Slovenian veterinary research
• Publisher: Veterinarska fakulteta, Veterinarska fakulteta, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2385-8761
• COBISS.SI-ID: 275836160

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Zdravljenje s sokom granatnega jabolka preprečuje poškodbe mod zaradi ogljikovega tetraklorida (CCl4) pri podganah: biokemična in histološka študija