Honey and metformin ameliorated diabetes-induced damages in testes of rat; correlation with hormonal changes

Background: The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is on rise. Diabetes-induced oxidative stress has been known to affect liver, pancreas, kidney and reproductive organs pathologically. Honey is a natural product of bee with antioxidant properties. Objective: Current study aimed to analyze the protective effects of Metformin (MF) alone and MF+ natural honey co-administration on diabetes-induced histological derangements in testis of rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty six, mature male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups including; control, honey-dosed non-diabetic, diabetes-induced (65 mg/kg, single dose), honey-administrated diabetic (1.0 g/kg/day), Metformin-received diabetic (100 mg/kg/day), Metformin and honey-co-treated diabetic which were followed 40 days. The animals were anesthetized by diethyl ether and the blood samples were collected. The serum levels of testosterone, Insulin, LH and FSH analyzed using antibody enzyme immunoassay method. The testicular tissues were dissected out and underwent to histological analyses. Results: The biochemical analyses revealed that the diabetes resulted in significantly reduced testosterone (p < 0.01), LH and FSH (P < 0.01, 0.001) levels in serum. Light microscopic analyses showed remarkable (p < 0.01) reduction in seminiferous tubules diameter (STD), spermiogenesis index (SPI) and thickness of the epithelium in the diabetic group versus control and co-treated groups. Simultaneous administration of the honey with MF could fairly up-regulate testosterone, LH and FSH levels. The animals in metformin and honey-treated group exhibited with improved tubules atrophy, elevated spermiogenesis index and germinal epithelium thickness. Conclusion: Our data indicated that co-administration of Metformin and honey could inhibit the diabetes-induced damages in testicular tissue. Moreover, the simultaneous administration of metformin and honey up-regulated the diabetes-reduced insulin, LH, FSH and testosterone levels.