Phoenix dactylifera Pollen Grains Mitigate Aflatoxin B1-Induced Reproductive Dysregulation in Rabbit Bucks: Effects on Physio-Metabolic Pathways, Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Pyroptosis in Rabbit Bucks

Hesham S. Ghazzawy; Nashi Khalid Alqahtani; Roshmon Thomas Mathew; Hassan M. Ali-Dinar; Mohamed Shawky El Syed; Abdullah Sheikh; Ramya Ahmad Sindi; Mohammed S. Sobh; Mohammed A. Alfattah; Layla A. Almutairi; Sameh A. Abdelnour

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0079

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Phoenix dactylifera Pollen Grains Mitigate Aflatoxin B1-Induced Reproductive Dysregulation in Rabbit Bucks: Effects on Physio-Metabolic Pathways, Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Pyroptosis in Rabbit Bucks

Annals of Animal Science

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (April 2026)

By: Hesham S. Ghazzawy, Nashi Khalid Alqahtani, Roshmon Thomas Mathew, Hassan M. Ali-Dinar, Mohamed Shawky El Syed, Abdullah Sheikh, Ramya Ahmad Sindi, Mohammed S. Sobh, Mohammed A. Alfattah, Layla A. Almutairi and Sameh A. Abdelnour

Open Access

|Apr 2026

Figures & Tables

The final body weights of rabbit bucks were measured in response to dietary inclusion of AFB and treatment with date palm pollen (DPP). The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (AFB1), date palm pollen (DPP), or AFB1+DPP for two months. a, b – values with different letters indicate a significant difference (P<0.05)

(A–D). Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on serum redox homeostasis of male rabbits. a, b, c – values with different letters indicate a significant difference (P<0.05). Data presented as mean± SEM (standard error of means). The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (0.3 mg/kg), date palm pollen (DPP, 300 mg/kg diet), or AFB1+DPP for two months

(A–H). Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on DNA of oxidative DNA damage (Figure 4 A), immunoglobins G (IgG, Figure 4 B) and immunoglobins M (IgM, Figure 4 C), and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 (Figure 4 D) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ; Figure 4 E), IL-10 (Figure 4 F), nitric oxide (Figure 4 G) and lysosome activity (Figure 4 H) of male rabbits. a, b, c – values with different letters indicate a significant difference (P<0.05). Data presented as mean ± SEM (standard error of means). The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (0.3 mg/kg), date palm pollen (DPP, 300 mg/kg diet), or AFB1+DPP for two months

(A–C). Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on serum testosterone (Figure 5 A) and adipokines such as leptin (Figure 5 B) and vistatin (Figure 5 C) of male rabbits. a, b, c – values with different letters indicate a significant difference (P<0.05). Data presented as mean± SEM (standard error of means). The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (0.3 mg/kg), date palm pollen (DPP, 300 mg/kg diet), or AFB1+DPP for two months

(A–D). The impact of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) on mitigating the negative effects of AFB1 on histopathological changes in testicular tissues of male rabbits. The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (0.3 mg/kg), date palm pollen (DPP, 300 mg/kg diet), or AFB1+DPP for two months. Bucks in the AFB1-fed group showed tissue atrophy and necrotic germinal epithelial lining. Additionally, interstitial edema was observed in animals from this group (Figure 6 B). Bucks in the control group (Figure 6 A) and DPP (Figure 6 B) had normal histology of seminiferous tubules and Leydig cells. Bucks in the therapy group (Figure 6 D) had moderate architectural changes in the majority of seminiferous tubules, less edema, and a reduced number of germ cells in some tubules

(A–D). Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on pyroptosis-related genes such as NLRP3 (Figure 7 A), GSDMD (Figure 7 B), Caspase-1 (Figure 7 C), and IL-18 (Figure 7 D) in testicular tissues of male rabbits. a, b, c – values with different letters indicate a significant difference (P<0.05). Data presented as mean ± SEM (standard error of means). The rabbit bucks were fed a basal diet (CON), contaminated diets with AFB1 (0.3 mg/kg), date palm pollen (DPP, 300 mg/kg diet), or AFB1+DPP for two months

Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on the blood metabolites of male rabbits

Item¹	Treatments²				P value
Item¹	CON	AFB1	DPP300	DPP300+AFB1	P value
TP, mg/dL	5.89±0.10 b	4.33±0.11 c	6.77±0.10 b	8.15±0.15 a	<0.001
ALB, mg/dL	4.63±0.14 b	3.13±0.05 c	4.53±0.17 b	5.82±0.33 a	<0.001
GLO, mg/dL	1.26±0.23 b	1.20±0.16 b	2.24±0.10 a	2.34±0.36 a	0.013
CREA, mg/dL	1.42±0.01 b	2.34±0.01 a	1.20±0.02 b	1.20±0.01 b	<0.001
Urea, mg/dL	52.25±1.04 b	70.99±0.80 a	36.43±1.84 c	52.92±1.16 b	0.086
TB, mg/dL	0.61±0.01 c	0.82±0.02 a	0.76±0.01 b	0.77±0.02 b	<0.001
TC, mg/dL	75.53±0.64 b	122.75±1.01 a	75.32±0.67 b	74.54±0.93 b	<0.001
TG, mg/dL	81.71±0.28 b	111.19±3.09 a	81.40±0.70 b	81.18±0.93 b	<0.001
LDL, mg/dL	31.94±0.47 b	41.84±0.60 a	32.49±0.31 b	31.76±0.87 b	<0.001
HDL, mg/dL	33.57±2.03 b	25.04±0.91 c	42.82±1.19 a	41.89±0.93 a	<0.001
LDH, U/L	31.89±0.86 b	66.89±2.21 a	33.53±0.36 b	31.45±1.67 b	<0.001
GGT, U/L	22.00±0.58 b	26.00±1.15 a	19.00±0.51 c	17.00±0.58 c	<0.001
AST, U/L	19.67±0.87 b	34.67±0.84 a	22.00±0.52 b	20.00±0.58 b	<0.001

The main identified molecules found in date palm pollen of Egyptian palm tree

Compound name	Molecular formula	2D structure	Biological activity	Reference

1	2	3	4	5
Disaccharide	C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁		Antimicrobial action Provide hydroxyl groups to maintain their integrity in absence of water	Zhang et al. (2014)
Kaempferol-3-O-hexoside (2″-sulfate)	C₂₁H₁₉O₁₄S		Antioxidant activity	Abdallah et al. (2023)
Quercetin-3,4′-di-O-hexoside	C₂₇H₂₉O₁₇		Improve fertility in female rats	Abdallah et al. (2023); Otify et al. (2021)
Isorhamnetin-3-O-(2-rhamnosyl) hexoside	C₂₈H₃₁O₁₆		Anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory activity	González-Arceo et al. (2022)
Quercetin	C₁₅H₉O₇		Antioxidant activity Anti-inflammatory Detoxification activity	Dai et al. (2024)
Isorhamnetin	C₁₆H₁₁O₇		Antibacterial and anti-obesity	González-Arceo et al. (2022)
Dihydroxy-palmitic acid	C₁₆H₃₁O₄		Antioxidant activity	Otify et al. (2021)
Dihydroxy-linoleic acid	C₁₈H₃₁O₄⁻		Antioxidant activity	Otify et al. (2021)
Caffeoyl-palmitic acid derivative	C₂₅H₃₉O₅		Antioxidant activity	Joujou et al. (2024)
Estrone acetate	C₂₀H₂₃O₃		Antioxidant activity	Abdallah et al. (2023)
Octadecadienoic acid derivative	C₄₆H₆₉NO₅		Antibacterial and antifungal	Hawar et al. (2023)
Hydroxy-stearic acid	C₁₈H₃₅O₃		Antiproliferative	–

Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on semen quality and seminal plasma antioxidants of male rabbits

Item¹	Treatments²				P value
Item¹	CON	AFB1	DPP300	DPP300+AFB1	P value
Sperm concentration, 10⁶/mL	335.00±3.87 b	285.00±9.75 c	329.60±2.94 b	363.00±6.24 a	<0.001
Sperm motility, %	50.20±1.28 b	40.60±1.69 c	62.40±1.03 a	49.40±1.91 b	<0.001
Viability, %	52.60±1.17 b	31.80±0.92 c	69.60±1.03 a	51.20±1.91 b	<0.001
Membrane function, %	49.40±0.87 b	37.40±2.18 c	63.60±1.36 a	51.00±1.05 b	<0.001
Sperm abnormality, %	19.20±1.02 b	22.40±0.81 a	17.60±1.03 b	18.60±0.88 b	0.013
Seminal plasma
GSH, mmol/mL	38.88±0.59 b	20.29±8.23 c	44.95±0.66 a	36.08±0.63 b	0.005
TAC, nmol/L	0.26±0.01 a	0.19±0.01 b	0.24±0.01 a	0.25±0.01 a	<0.001
MDA, nmol/mL	47.07±1.17 c	64.76±1.07 a	34.78±0.90 d	56.26±2.82 b	<0.001
nitric oxide, nmol/mL	43.17±1.10 a	33.39±0.73 b	43.37±0.59 a	45.93±0.67 a	<0.001

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0079 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Page range: 797 - 812

Submitted on: Mar 26, 2025

Accepted on: Jul 18, 2025

Published on: Apr 30, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: Volume open

Keywords:

bucks,

aflatoxin,

infertility,

date palm pollen therapy

Related subjects:

Zoology,

© 2026 Hesham S. Ghazzawy, Nashi Khalid Alqahtani, Roshmon Thomas Mathew, Hassan M. Ali-Dinar, Mohamed Shawky El Syed, Abdullah Sheikh, Ramya Ahmad Sindi, Mohammed S. Sobh, Mohammed A. Alfattah, Layla A. Almutairi, Sameh A. Abdelnour, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (April 2026)

Phoenix dactylifera Pollen Grains Mitigate Aflatoxin B1-Induced Reproductive Dysregulation in Rabbit Bucks: Effects on Physio-Metabolic Pathways, Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Pyroptosis in Rabbit Bucks

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on the blood metabolites of male rabbits

The main identified molecules found in date palm pollen of Egyptian palm tree

Impacts of dietary date palm pollen (DPP) in mitigating the negative effect of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on semen quality and seminal plasma antioxidants of male rabbits

Paradigm

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