Efficacy of N‐acetyl‐l‐cysteine against glyphosate induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in testicular germ cells preventing infertility

Abstract The present era's demand for continuous pesticides' use to increase the agriculture outcome, has caused numerous health effects among which mammalian infertility, owing to reproductive toxicity, is serious. Thus, the present study emphasizes upon glyphosate (GLY) induced toxicity and mitigating effects of N ‐acetyl cysteine (NAC) in testicular cells of caprine by using various cytotoxic and biochemical parameters. GLY was found to induce several apoptotic attributes such as pyknotic nuclei, tubular degeneration, increased vacuolization, and so on, in testicular cells. GLY also decreased the cell viability and increased the incidence of apoptosis in testicular cells in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner as revealed by MTT assay and Fluorescence (ethidium bromide/acridine orange) assay, respectively. It also increased the level of oxidative stress as evident with an increase in lipid peroxidation and decline in antioxidant power along with the decreased enzymatic activity of different antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, and GST). However, NAC supplementation showed antagonistic results in GLY‐treated testicular tissues with maximum amelioration at the highest dose, thereby decreasing GLY‐mediated apoptosis rate and oxidative stress. Maximum amelioration was reported at 10 mM NAC concentration. Reduced GLY toxicity due to NAC will prove NAC to be an excellent approach for dealing with male reproductive toxicity at the cellular level, benefiting the mammalian reproductive status.