Abstract
Background: Many men in the world are infertile at reproductive age. One of the causes of male infertility is the side effects of chemotherapy drugs. Doxorubicin (DOX) is a tetracycline used in chemotherapy that has been shown to have adverse effects on testicular tissue. Objectives: The simultaneous effect of high-intensity aerobic exercise and crocin (Cr) consumption on doxorubicin-induced testicular tissue has not been studied. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the interaction between exercise and Cr consumption on spermatogenesis and expression of lutein hormone receptor (LHR) in testicular tissue of rats injected with doxorubicin. Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 6), including (1) healthy control, (2) doxorubicin, (3) doxorubicin + 10 mg/kg body weight (kg.bw) Cr, (4) doxorubicin + high intensity interval training (HIIT) and (5) doxorubicin + aerobic training with 10 mg/kg.bw Cr. Rats in groups 3 and 5 received Cr daily at specific doses orally, and groups 4 and 5 performed aerobic training (2 - 8 rep × 2 min at 80 - 110% Vo2max) five days/w. Also, groups 2 to 5 received two mg/kg of doxorubicin peritoneally seven times throughout the study. Expression of LHR and spermatogenesis was measured by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), respectively. Results: Data analysis showed a significant decrement in the spermatogenesis and expression of LHR in the doxorubicin group compared with the control group (P ≤ 0.0001). Also, the interaction of HIIT and Cr caused the most significant increase in LHR expression and spermatogenesis (P ≤ 0.03). The effect of HIIT on LHR expression and spermatogenesis was higher than that of Cr consumption (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: To prevent the harmful side effect of doxorubicin on testicular tissue HIIT and Cr consumption are recommended. Also, the positive effect of HIIT was significantly higher than Cr consumption.