Effects of alcoholic extract of Euphorbia cyparissias on spermatogenesis and serum level of testosterone in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder which is considered one of the main causes of mortality in developed countries. Long term use of the majority of synthetic anti-diabetic drugs lead to various side effects therefore the use of medicinal plants has currently become popular. Traditionally, Euphorbia cyparissias has been used for its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and anti-neoplastic properties. In the present study 40 male Wistar rats were studied in four groups (n=10). The groups included: control, diabetic, alcoholic 500, alcoholic 250. The alcoholic groups received 250 and 500 mg/kg of alcoholic extract of Euphorbia cyparissias for 21 days through gastric gavage following induction of diabetes with streptozotocin. In control and diabetes induced groups an identical volume of physiological serum was gavaged. The testicular tissue and blood samples were obtained at the end of the experimental period for histological and blood testosterone concentration purposes, respectively. Results suggested that the serum glucose and testosterone concentrations in the control and alcoholic 500 groups had a significant difference with the other groups (p