Effect of exogenous L-ornithine L-aspartate on ethanol induced testicular injury in Wistar rats

To investigate reversibility of ethanol induced testicular injuries on treatment with L-ornithine-L-aspartate, male Wistar rats were treated with ethanol (1.6g/kg b.wt/day) and L-ornithine- L-aspartate (200mg/kg b.wt/ day) for 4 weeks. L-ornithine-L-aspartate effectively prevented the ethanol induced body and testes weight reduction; changes in testicular weight well correlated with body weight. Drug exhibited an ability to counteract ethanol induced oxidative challenge as it effectively reduced testicular TBARS and increased tissue ascorbic acid, GSH and activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, GSH-Red and Se-GSH-Px. However the drug didn't show promising effect on inhibitory effect of ethanol on testicular D5, 3-beta and 17-beta HSD (hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase).