Effect of exogenous melatonin treatment on the reproductive characteristics and progeny of male rats exposed to different periods from light and darkness.

摘要

Light is an important environmental factor that controls theregulation of physiological functions of organisms. Melatonin isconsidered as one of the major hormones that play an importantrole in protecting body from many harmful effects and acts asa powerful anti-oxidant source to controlling the levels ofantioxidant enzymes within the body. The main objectives of thiswork were to study the effect of 1) photoperiod changes and2) exogenous melatonin hormone treatment on the spermproperties, body and testis weight, embryo characteristics, andconcentration level of melatonin and testosterone in treated ratserum. This study has been conducted using thirty-six male ratsand one hundred and twenty female rats. Animals were dividedinto six groups, each group containing six males and twentyfemale rats. Our results showed a significant influence ofphotoperiod changes on the melatonin and testosteronehormones concentration in rats’ serum, body weight only, whilethe other characteristics not affected. As for the effect ofmelatonin it has been found that the movement of sperm in GIIIand IV, as well as embryos absorbed and newborns weight traitshas been significantly affected, while the rest of the propertieswere not significantly affected by melatonin treatment.