Effects of acute or chronic administration gold nanospheres on testicular functions in male rats

Abstract This study investigated the effect of gold nanospheres (AuNPs) administration on the rat male reproductive function. Experiment 1: Fifty-four rats were assigned into three groups (n = 18/group). Group І (control), Group ІІ (50 nm AuNPs) and Group ІІІ (10 nm AuNPs), in which rats were intramuscular (i.m) injected with a single dose of 75µg AuNPs/kg/bwt. Experiment 2: Eighteen rats were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 6/group). Group І (control), Group ІІ (50nm AuNPs) and Group ІІІ (10 nm AuNPs): rats were injected repeated doses of 75µg AuNPs /kg/bwt for 5 weeks followed by 3 weeks washout period. Blood, testes and epididymis samples were collected on Days-3, 7, and 60 in experiment 1 and on Day-60 in the 2nd experiment. Results indicated that acute or chronic administration of 10nm AuNPs caused significantly increased serum testosterone level on day-60. Chronic administration of 50nm AuNPs has an antioxidant effect. Acute or chronic study induced no histopathological changes and no changes in Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) and caspase-3 in testicular tissues. Acute or chronic administration of 10nm AuNPs significantly increased the spermatozoa in epididymal ducts and testicular tissue on Day-60 post-treatment. In conclusion, the administration of AuNPs (10nm and 50nm size) is safe on the male reproductive function.