The present study investigated the effect of a 5-week ASA treatment on male reproductive parameters in Wistar rats; moreover, the potential benefits of a 4-week sprint interval training (SIT) on these measures following ASA treatment were investigated. A total of 25 male rats were obtained and randomly assigned to the control group (C, n = 10) and the ASA treatment group (EP, n = 15). After 5 weeks, five rats from each group were killed and the effect of ASA treatment on the reproductive parameters was assessed. Then, the ASA treatment terminated and the remaining 10 ASA-treated rats were divided into the non-treatment group (NT, n = 5) and the exercise training group (ET, n = 5), which performed SIT 3 sessions/week for 4 weeks. Five weeks of ASA treatment resulted in a statistically significant decrease in serum testosterone level, Leydig cell number, sperm count, sperm motility, sperm viability, TDI, SI and RI, and it resulted in a significant increase in sperm nucleus maturity and sperm DNA fragmentation (p ˂ 0.05). Furthermore, 4 weeks of SIT reversed all the ASA-induced changes in male reproductive parameters (p < 0.05), but not the number of seminiferous tubules and the sperm motility (p > 0.05). A subchronic dose of ASA could lead to adverse alterations in male reproductive parameters and SIT is beneficial in reversing those alterations.
Keywords: aspirin; high-intensity interval training; reproductive function; testosterone.
© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.