Infertility resulting from reproductive deficiency can be stressful. Exposure to aflatoxin B1, a dietary mycotoxin prevalent in improperly stored grains, is reported to elicit reproductive insufficiencies and infertility. We, therefore, examined the likely beneficial effect of gallic acid (GA) a phytochemical, recognized to exhibit in vitro and in vivo pharmacological bioactivities against oxidative stress and related inflammatory damages in rats, since AFB1 toxicities are predicated on oxidative epoxide formation, in a bid to proffer new evidence to advance the field of nutriceutical application from plant-derived chemopreventive agents. Our findings will advance the field of chemoprevention by presenting data absent in the literature on GA. Our results demonstrate further evidence for GA conferred protection against AFB1-mediated histological lesions in testes, epididymis, and hypothalamus of treated rats; suppresses oxidative damages, relieved inflammatory and apoptotic responses, restored sperm functional characteristics, and hormonal levels relevant for reproductive integrity and function.
Keywords: Aflatoxin B1; caspase-3; gallic acid; inflammation; oxidative stress; reproductive deficits.