Glutamine restores testicular glutathione-dependent antioxidant defense and upregulates NO/cGMP signaling in sleep deprivation-induced reproductive dysfunction in rats.

Oxidative stress has been linked with sleep deprivation (SD)-induced pathological conditions and reproductive dysfunction. On the other hand, glutamine has been established to have antioxidant property. However, the impact of SD, with or without glutamine, on male reproductive function is yet to be elucidated. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the role of SD, with or without glutamine, on male reproductive function and possible associated mechanisms. Ten-week old male Wistar rats weighing 175.6 g ± 0.42 were randomly assigned into vehicle that received per os (p. O.) distilled water, glutamine (1 g/kg; po), SD, and SD + glutamine that received treatments as glutamine and SD. Treatment/exposure lasted for 72 h. The results showed that SD led to reduced body weight, seminiferous luminal and epididymal sperm density, low sperm quality, increased testicular and epididymal malondialdehyde, uric acid, DNA fragmentation, and testicular injury markers. In addition, SD caused a reduction...