Rutin, an antioxidant flavonoid, induces glutathione and glutathione peroxidase activities to protect against ethanol effects in cadmium-induced oxidative stress in the testis of adult rats.

Exposure to cadmium (Cd) reduces sperm quality and induces oxidative stress in the testis. Rutin is an effective antioxidant flavonoid. We studied the effect of ethanol (EtOH, 5 g/kg b.wt.) intake on Cd (50 mg/kg b.wt.)-induced testicular toxicity with or without RUT pre-treatment (25, 50, 100 mg/kg b.wt.) in rats. At the end of the 15-day oral treatment, co-treatment with EtOH decreased the activities of glutathione (GSH), GSH-peroxidase and superoxide dismutase resulting to slight increase in the testicular MDA level compared to Cd-treated rats. The Cd+EtOH animals had higher levels of abnormal spermatozoa, decreased epididymal sperm number and serum testosterone levels (p < .05) compared to the Cd-treated animals. Rutin co-administration protected against the EtOH effects in a dose-dependent manner, with the Cd+EtOH+50 mg/kg RUT- and Cd+EtOH+100 mg/kg RUT-treated animals having higher GSH and GSH-Px activities beyond the control values (p < .05). In a supplementary study, animals treated daily with RUT alone (25, 50, 100 mg/kg b.wt.) for 15 days dose-dependently increased testicular GSH-peroxidase and GSH activities by 9.38%, 31.25%, 56.25% and 7.14%, 32.14%, 60.71%, respectively, compared to control values. Therefore, RUT induces GSH and GSH-Px activities to protect against Cd+EtOH-induced testis oxidative stress in rats.