Evaluation of sperm quality in mice exposed to camphor and protective role of Vitamin E

In traditional medicine in some Asian countries, including Iran, there is a belief that camphor is a suppressor of sexual activity. Not only has the validity of this hypothesis not been established, but also studies in this field are very limited.
In this study, we investigated the effects of camphor on sperm quality in mice, and to protect sperm damage vitamin E as an antioxidant was used.
This study was conducted on 30 adult male mice (balb/c) with weight range 20-25 gr in 5 groups. First group was control (CO) and treated with normal saline, groups 2 and 3 were sham groups treated respectively with Olive oil (OL) and the combination of olive oil and vitamin E (OL), and finally, two experimental groups were treated using camphor (CA) and camphor with vitamin E (CA). Camphor at doses of 30 mg/kg/day and vitamin E at doses of 100 mg/kg/day were prepared. All materials were administered orally (gavage). After 35 days semen were collected from tail of epididymis, and then total count, motility, viability, nuclear maturity, and DNA damage were examined.
Results showed significant reduction in sperm total count, percentage of viability, increase in the number of immature sperms and no significant difference in rate of motile sperms and sperms with damaged DNA in groups that received Camphor was observed. Vitamin E as a strong antioxidant administered lightly was able to reduce the effects of Camphor on viable and mature sperms (p It can be concluded that Camphor could affect on mice sperm quality and vitamin E as an antioxidant, was able to slightly reduce Camphor effects in sperm quality.