Carnosine and vitamin E - a promising pair in the combat against testicular oxidative stress in aged rats

Summary Oxidative stress is considered to play a key role in ageing. Carnosine alone or together with vitamin E may prove to be helpful in dealing with problems of ageing through its antioxidant activity. Testis, by producing steroids and possessing a poor antioxidant system may become a strong target for the chronic oxidative stress generated during ageing. Therefore we investigated the in vivo effect of carnosine alone or together with vitamin E on testicular oxidative stress in aged rats. In this study, young (5 months) and aged (22 months) Wistar rats were used. Carnosine (250 mg kg−1; i.p.; 5 days per week) and vitamin E (200 mg kg−1; i.m.; twice per week) were given to aged rats for 2 months. Increased testicular lipid peroxidation and superoxide dismutase activity in aged rats were declined to the levels of young ones by both treatments. Decreased glutathione peroxidase and glutathione transferase activities returned to the level of young's only by carnosine plus vitamin E treatment. Histopathological evaluation described by Johnsen's score, also showed significant improvement with preserved spermatogenesis. Carnosine plus vitamin E treatment appears to stage a powerful performance by attenuating testicular oxidative stress and sparing the antioxidant system.