Cinnamon Bark Extract Improved the Semen Quality of Male Albino Mice

Abstract

This work was conducted to examine the effect of the aqueous extract of cinnamon bark on some reproductive parameters of male mice. Ten healthy adult males of Swiss albino mice (Mus musculus L), their age between 80-100 days and their weight between 28-35 g, were selected, acclimated, then randomly categorized into two groups of five animals each and treated as follows. Group 1: Control mice that received orally by gavage needle 0.1 ml of tap water daily for 30 days. Group 2: Male mice treated orally by gavage needle with 0.1 ml of the aqueous extract of cinnamon bark daily for 30 days. After cervical dislocation both testes and epididymes immediately were dissected out, then the epididyaml sperms parameters and the testes histological structures were estimated and the data were statistically analyzed. Cinnamon bark extract caused a highly significant increase (P < 0.01) in sperms progressive motility which increased from 71 % in the male mice of the control group to 86 % in the male mice of the treatment group. The treated males had a significant larger (P < 0.01) sperms concentration (3.4 X 10 6 /ml) than the males in the control group ( 2.1 X 10 6 / ml). The percentage of vital sperms was significantly increased (P < 0.05) from 89.2% in the animals of the control group to 94.4% in the animals of the treated group. There was a highly significant increase (P < 0.01) in the percentage of normal sperms in the treated male mice (92.8 %) in comparisons with the untreated (control) male mice (85.7 %). Although, the histological examination of the testes showed no significant differences (P > 0.05) between the two groups of male mice, there was an obvious improvement in both of the diameters of seminiferous tubules and the thickness of germinal cell layer in favor of the treated mice. In conclusion, the oral daily treatment of the aqueous extract of cinnamon bark for 30 days improved some significant parameters of semen quality of male mice.