• the effect of artemisinin on the sperm parameters of adult male mice
  • Hossein Tayefi Nasrabadi,1,* behnaz abedi,2 davoud kianifard,3 mehdi basaki,4
    1. Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
    2. Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
    3. Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
    4. Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran


  • Introduction: Artemisinin is an endoperoxidesesquiterpene lactone that is obtained from the leaves and blossom of the Artemisiannua plant. The peroxide bridge in this component is responsible for its drug mechanism. Artemisinin and its derivatives including artesunate, dihydroartemisinin and artemether are used currently for the treatment of malaria disease because their high efficacy and low toxicity. However, in regions with high malaria prevalence it has been shown that artemisinin affects the men fertility due to abusing, indiscriminate use and patient’s non-compliance to the therapeutic regiments. Therefore, in this study we aimed to evaluate the effect of therapeutic and over dose of artemisinin on spermatological parameters of male mice.
  • Methods: Thirty healthy adult male mice weighing 25-30 g were randomly divided into 3 groups of 10 each. The mice were maintained in a standard plastic cages with easy access to food and water ad libitum and subjected to photoperiod of 12-h light/12-h dark. The experiment was performed according to the guidelines and approval of institutional animal ethics committee. The first group (control) received only basal diet and DMSO plus corn oil as an artemisinin solvent, the second group received therapeutic dose (50mg/Kg) of artemisinin dissolved in DMSO and corn oil and the third group were treated with overdose (250mg/kg) of artemisinin dissolved in DMSO and corn oil daily for 7 days. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, mice from each group were sacrificed by cervical dislocation. The testis was carefully excised, the epididymis was isolated and spermatozoon was extracted and analysed. Semen was emulsified with equal volume of normal saline solution on a clean dry glass slide and viewed under a light microscope to analyse sperm motility, count and viability using standard methods. Statistical analyses were carried out using one-way analysis of variance, with Graphpad Prism software version 5. P < 0.05 was considered statistically
  • Results: our results showed no significant difference in sperm count between control and therapeutic dose treated group. The sperm count decreased 1.6 folds in the group treated with overdose of artemisinin (p<0.05) compared with the control group. Also, when compared to the control group, artemisinin at therapeutic and over dose exhibited no significant effect on the percentage of motile sperms. Furthermore, the sperm viability in the therapeutic and over dose treated groups was significantly lower than the control group (p<0.001)
  • Conclusion: The study reveals that short-term administration of artemisinin at therapeutic and over dose results in alteration of sperm parameters
  • Keywords: Artemisinin, Sperm parameters, Sperm motility, Sperm viability