Background: Piperine is the primary pungent alkaloid isolated from the fruit of black peppercorns. Piperine is used frequently in dietary supplements and traditional medicines. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of piperine on the testis development in the pubertal rat. Methods: Piperine (0 or 5 or 10 mg/kg) was gavaged to 35-day-old male Sprague-Dawley rats for 30 days. Serum levels of testosterone (T), luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured. The development of adult Leydig cell population was also analyzed 65 days postpartum. For in vitro studies, immature Leydig cells were isolated from 35-day-old male rats and treated with 50 μM piperine in the presence of different steroidogenic stimulators/substrates for 24 h. Results: Thirty-day treatment of rats with piperine significantly increased serum T levels without affecting LH concentrations. However, piperine treatment reduced serum FSH levels. Consistent with increase in serum T, piperine increased Leydig cell number, cell size, and multiple steroidogenic pathway proteins, including steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme, 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1, 17α-hydroxylase/20-lyase, and steroidogenic factor 1 expression levels. Piperine significantly increased the ratio of phospho-AKT1 (pAKT1)/AKT1, phosphos-AKT2 (pAKT2)/AKT2, and phospho-ERK1/2 (pERK1/2)/ERK1/2 in the testis. Interestingly, piperine inhibited spermatogenesis. Piperine in vitro also increased androgen production and stimulated cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme and 17α-hydroxylase/20-lyase activities in immature Leydig cells. Conclusion: Piperine stimulates pubertal Leydig cell development by increasing Leydig cell number and promoting its maturation while it inhibits spermatogenesis in the rat. ERK1/2 and AKT pathways may involve in the piperine-mediated stimulation of Leydig cell development.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
7
19%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
3
8%
Chemistry
2
5%
Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine
1
3%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance
1
3%
Other
3
8%
Unknown
20
54%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 99. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 30 August 2023.
All research outputs
#401,704
of 24,351,425 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Pharmacology
#146
of 18,304 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#9,571
of 333,519 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Pharmacology
#8
of 375 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,351,425 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 18,304 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 333,519 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 375 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
