Effect of both bisphenol-a and liquorice on some sexual hormones in male albino rats and the amelioration effect of vitamin c on their actions

Background: Xenoestrogens are defined as chemicals that mimic some structural parts of the physiological estrogen compounds, therefore may act as estrogen or could interfere with the actions of endogenous estrogens. Phytoestrogens (plant estrogens) are substances that occur naturally in plants.They have asimilar chemical structure to our own body’s estrogen. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is used to prevent and treat scurvy. Objective: The aim of the study was to clarify the effect of both bisphenol-A (BPA) and liquorice together on some sexual hormones and illustration of the effect of vitamin C on their actions. Materials and methods: Thirty male albino rats were used and divided into three groups: Group I: control (untreated group), Group II: rats treated with BPA and liquorice, Group III: rats treated with BPA and liquorice in addition to vitamin C. Blood samples were collected for different biochemical investigations. Results: The biochemical results showed high significant increase (p<0.01) in the activities of ALT, AST, urea, creatinine, FSH, prolactin, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-C, VLDL, LDL/HDL and TC/HDL levels. There was high significant decrease (p<0.01) in HDL-C, total protein, albumin, globulin, testosterone, and LH. These results turned back to the normal values after receiving the vitamin C as compared to normal group. Conclusion: it could be concluded that phytoestrogen and xenoestrogen had undesirable effects and it's recommended to minimize the utilizing of these compounds to protect people from its hazardous effects.