Ginger oil microemulsion improves reproductive performance of male albino rats: sexual behavior, gross testicular measurements, spermatogenesis, and expression of sperm capacitation genes

Abstract Background The effectiveness of nanoparticles in enhancing male sexual performance is a topic of great attention these days. The research goal was to evaluate the potency of ginger oil (G-Oil) and ginger oil microemulsion (G-ME) on male rat fertility and reproductive performance. Thirty-five male albino rats were split up into five groups and delivered oral gavage three times a week for eight weeks: control (1 ml /kg bw distilled water), corn oil (1 ml /kg bw corn oil), ginger oil (75 mg/kg bw ginger oil in corn oil as a vehicle), ginger oil microemulsion at two doses (75 and 37.5 mg/kg bw, respectively). Assessments of sexual behavior, sperm quality, relative testes weight, serum sex hormones, testicular oxidant/antioxidant status, sperm capacitation markers, and histomorphology and immunohistochemical changes in both testicles and epididymis were utilized. Results The results revealed that G-ME administration, especially at a low dose (37.5 mg/kg bw), significantly (p < 0.05) improved sexual behavior, relative testes weight, serum testosterone, and activating antioxidant enzyme Superoxide dismutase (SOD) along with reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) content in testicular tissues, indicating its antioxidant activity. Moreover, G-ME had significantly (p < 0.001) higher expression of SPACA1 and CD59b genes, accompanied by improvements in sperm motility, count, and viability compared to the control group. Additionally, G-ME 37.5 mg/kg bw showed remarkable histological enhancements as spermatogenic cells and spermatozoa increased in seminiferous tubules and epididymis tubular lumen. Also, a stimulatory effect was detected on proliferating cells with increasing PCNA immunodepression in testicular and epididymal tissues. Conclusions Finally, the results obtained revealed the superiority of G-ME at a low dose of 37.5 mg/kg above the traditional G-Oil due to improvements in its physical properties, which resulted in increased ginger bioavailability and improved different rat fertility indices.