• Protective effect of folic acid on the deltamethrin-induced toxicity on sperm quality and testosterone in mice
  • Mohadeseh salemi,1,*
    1. Mulla Sadra Research Center


  • Introduction: Deltamethrin (DM) as one of the most widely used agricultural pesticides, is one of the environmental factors that can have destructive effects on the male fertility. According to studies, folic acid is one of the effective factors in increasing the quality of male fertility.
  • Methods: In this experimental study, 25 adult NMRI male mice were divided in to five groups (n=5/each). The control group received only normal saline. Sham received 0.2 ml corn oil. Folic acid group 0.08 mg/kg, DM group 0.6 mg/kg and DM+FA group received both of them. After 28 days of treatment, the mice were anesthetized and blood samples were taken from the heart to extract serum. The mice were then operated on and the left tail of the epididymis was removed to extract adult sperm. Hormonal analysis was performed by ELISA and CL methods.
  • Results: The results showed that in DM group sperm count, motility, testosterone and free testosterone significantly decreased. (p<0.001) treatment with FA in the DM￾treated mice significantly improved these changes.
  • Conclusion: With these findings it was concluded that folic acid can protect against deltamethrin￾induced damage and improve epididymal sperm parameters and increase fertility in male mice.
  • Keywords: Sperm، Infertility ،Testosterone، Reproduction