Semen analysis

Sperm count and motility were evaluated as described in our previous study (Eleawa et al. 2014). After being minced, the right cauda epididymis from each rat was diluted 1:20 with normal saline (0.9% NaCl) and incubated for 5 min at 37 °C in a Petri dish. The total number of sperms was counted in a glass haemocytometer at 400× in the five squares of the central area. At the same time, motile and immotile sperms were counted in a total of 600 sperm fields, and the results were expressed as percentages (%). On a separate glass slide, a drop of eosin was added to the sperm suspension for morphological examination under a light microscope. The following morphologies were determined: absence of head, the absence of tails, tail-bending, tail-coiling, mid-piece curving and mid-piece bending. All procedures were performed in triplicate for each sample, and an average was determined. Data were presented as an average of 10 rats/group.