effects of metformin on il-17, ifn-γ, and sperm quality in a rat model of chronic non-bacterial prostatitis

Background: chronic nonbacterial prostatitis (cnp) is a common, debilitating prostate disorder with no standardized treatment. metformin (met), an anti-diabetic medication, exhibits anti-inflammatory effects by reducing the production of cytokines.objectives: this study aimed to examine whether met can modulate inflammatory responses and reproductive parameters in a rat model of cnp induced by carrageenan. methods: a total of 24 8-week-old male wistar rats were selected and divided into 4 groups: the mock group (group i), cnp-control group (group ii), cnp-cernilton group (group iii), and cnp-met group (group iv). for cnp induction, 1% carrageenan (0.1 ml) was injected intraprostatically into groups ii, iii, and iv. the rats in groups iii and iv received cernilton (100 mg/kg) and met (100 mg/kg) orally for three weeks. prostatic index (pi), serum prostate-specific antigen (psa), interleukin-17 (il-17), interferon-γ (ifn‐γ), and sperm parameters (counts, motility, and viability) were compared between groups. data were analyzed using one-way anova with tukey post-hoc test for normal distributions and the kruskal-wallis with mann-whitney u test for non-normal distributions. significance was set at p<0.05.results: there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in pi, serum levels of psa, il-17, and ifn‐γ in group ii. at the same time, the sperm quality parameters were significantly decreased (p<0.05) in this group. on the other hand, in group iv, a significant decrease (p<0.05) in pi, psa, il-17, and ifn-γ levels was observed, and sperm quality parameters improved compared to group ii.conclusion: met markedly reduced inflammation and enhanced reproductive parameters in a rat model of cnp. through lowering pi, inflammatory cytokines (il-17, ifn-γ), and psa levels, and at the same time enhancing sperm quality, met proves to be a therapeutic candidate for cnp management.