{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,25]],"date-time":"2026-07-25T05:19:13Z","timestamp":1784956753451,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"23","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,21]],"date-time":"2023-11-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1700524800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Researchers Supporting Project","award":["RSP2023R154"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RSP2023R154"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Infertility is a well-recognized multifactorial problem affecting the majority of people who struggle with infertility issues. In recent times, among infertility cases, the male factor has acquired importance, and now it contributes to approximately half of the infertility cases because of different abnormalities. In the current study, we used natural phytochemicals as potential drug-lead compounds to target different receptor proteins that are involved in the onset of male infertility. A set of 210 plant phytochemicals were docked counter to active site residues of sex hormone-binding globulin, a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 17, and DNase I as receptor proteins. On the basis of binding scores and molecular dynamics simulation, the phytochemicals tricin, quercetin, malvidin, rhamnetin, isorhamnetin, gallic acid, kaempferol, esculin, robinetin, and okanin were found to be the potential drug candidates to treat male infertility. Molecular dynamics simulation showed tricin as a strong inhibitor of all selected receptor proteins because the ligand\u2013protein complexes remained stabilized during the entire simulation time of 100 ns. Further, an in vivo study was designed to evaluate the effect of tricin in male rats with nicotine-induced infertility. It was explored that a high dose of tricin significantly reduced the levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, urea, creatinine, cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein and raised the level of high-density lipoprotein in intoxicated male rats. A high dose of tricin also increased the reproductive hormones (i.e., testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and prolactin) and reduced the level of DHEA-SO4. The phytochemical (tricin, 10 mg\/kg body weight) also showed significant improvement in the histo-architecture after nicotine intoxication in rats. From the current study, it is concluded that the phytochemical tricin could serve as a potential drug candidate to cure male infertility.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28237693","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,21]],"date-time":"2023-11-21T12:12:13Z","timestamp":1700568733000},"page":"7693","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Exploring the Potential of Plant Bioactive Compounds against Male Infertility: An In Silico and In Vivo Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Muhammad","family":"Jahangeer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6510-6496","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ghulam","family":"Mustafa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0380-1332","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Naveed","family":"Munir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Sciences, Department of Biomedical Laboratory Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore 54782, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0708-3278","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sibtain","family":"Ahmed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA"},{"name":"Department of Biochemistry, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Khalid Mashai","family":"Al-Anazi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Zoology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"144","article-title":"Erkek \u0130nfertilite Nedenleri","volume":"10","year":"2020","journal-title":"Experimed"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2523","DOI":"10.1093\/humrep\/dez223","article-title":"Male ageing is negatively associated with the chance of live birth in IVF\/ICSI cycles for idiopathic infertility","volume":"34","author":"Horta","year":"2019","journal-title":"Hum. 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