Abstract

To investigate the degree of recovery by Laminaria japonica polysaccharides (LJP) on the damage to the rat spermatogenic function caused by chronic local ionizing radiation, 56 wistar rats were randomly divided into seven groups: Control, three model and three LJP groups. Results showed that although indicators in LJP and model groups were found different from the control group (P < 0.05) when compared with the corresponding model groups, except in LJP 7d group the difference of SOD activities was not obvious compared with model 7d group (P > 0.05). In the other 7 and 14d LJP group, the SOD and GSH-PX activities increased while MDA content decreased. In addition, mitochondrion membrane potential enhanced in testis cells while DNA injury relieved; furthermore the sperm count and survival rate increased, the difference was significantly (P < 0.05) and the testicular tissue damage reduced and mitochondrion were relieved, which were more similar to those of the control group. Our results suggested that lavaged by LJP100 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 at the duration from 7 days before radiation till the end of radiation, LJP has promoting effects on the recovery of the damages to spermatogenic function induced by chronic local ionizing radiation.

Key words: Laminaria japonica polysaccharides, ionizing radiation; spermatogenic function, damage recovery.