Leke Jacob Medubi, Nkechi Clara Nwosu, Ramat Olanrewaju Lawal, Oluwatoyin Ojuolape Medubi, Cecilia Ama, Olabisi Taiwo Kusemiju, Abraham A.A. Osinubi
JBRA Assist. Reprod. 2021; 25 (2):215-222
Received March 23, 2020
Accepted September 30, 2020
Abstract
Poor quality of sexual life has been reported secondary to poor sleep or sleep deprivation. Paradoxical sleep is an integral part of the sleep-wakefulness physiology and prolonged paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) may even be fatal. The objective of this investigation was to determine if administration of D-ribose-L-cysteine (RibCys) and zinc (Zn) can attenuate the effect of PSD on sexual function in male rats. Method:Following acclimatization, 25 male rats were randomly distributed into five groups of 5 rats each. The PSD, PSD+RibCys, PSD+Zn, PSD+RibCys+Zn, and Control group were only sleep-deprived, sleep-deprived and given 100mg/kg body-weight of pure RibCys, sleep-deprived and given 10mg/kg body weight Zn, sleep-deprived and given a combination of 100mg/kg of RibCys and 10mg/kg of Zn, and given distilled water without sleep deprivation respectively. PSD lasted for 20 hours per day for 14 days. Subsequently,the sexual behavioural study was carried out and the animals were sacrificed for biochemical assays. Results Analyses of results show that for animals treated with RibCys or Zn all sexual parameters such as mount frequency and latency, intromission frequency and latency and ejaculation frequency and latency were significantly improved compared with animals subjected to PSD only. This improvement correlates strongly positively with serum glutathione (GHS) levels. Conclusion: In summary, riboceine increases circulating GHS which leads to improved sexual function during sleep deprivation.
