Table 1.

Effects of metformin and silymarin on sperm count, motility, morphology, viability, maturity and DNA quality, and MDA and TAC concentrations in the different groups

Variable	Control	Diabetes	D+Met	D+Sil	p-value*
Sperm count (ml $\times$ 106)	116.0 $\pm$ 2.78 (0.98)	34.5 $\pm$ 2.07 ${}^a$ (0.73)	42.0 $\pm$ 2.07 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.73)	54.0 $\pm$ 2.00 ${}^a{}^b{}^c$ (0.71)	$\le$ 0.001
Motile sperm (%)	62.00 $\pm$ 3.38 (1.20)	22.63 $\pm$ 2.77 ${}^a$ (0.98)	46.38 $\pm$ 2.67 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.94)	58.13 $\pm$ 3.31 ${}^b{}^c$ (1.17)	$\le$ 0.001
Sperm with normal morphology (%)	86.00 $\pm$ 2.56 (0.91)	48.00 $\pm$ 2.73 ${}^a$ (0.96)	77.75 $\pm$ 2.38 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.84)	84.50 $\pm$ 2.14 ${}^b{}^c$ (0.76)	$\le$ 0.001
Viable sperm (%)	89.63 $\pm$ 2.97 (1.05)	42.38 $\pm$ 2.77 ${}^a$ (0.98)	55.13 $\pm$ 2.64 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.93)	87.50 $\pm$ 2.45 ${}^b{}^c$ (0.87)	$\le$ 0.001
Sperm with DNA damage	1.00 $\pm$ 0.76 (0.27)	33.25 $\pm$ 2.82 ${}^a$ (1.00)	25.50 $\pm$ 2.20 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.78)	7.75 $\pm$ 2.19 ${}^a{}^b{}^c$ (0.77)	$\le$ 0.001
Sperm with immature nucleus (%)	7.00 $\pm$ 1.77 (0.63)	41.50 $\pm$ 2.51 ${}^a$ (0.89)	39.00 $\pm$ 2.27 ${}^a$ (0.81)	33.13 $\pm$ 2.17 ${}^a{}^b{}^c$ (0.77)	$\le$ 0.001
MDA level in serum (nmol/ml)	1.2 $\pm$ 0.18 (0.06)	4.5 $\pm$ 0.15 ${}^a$ (0.05)	3.7 $\pm$ 0.15 ${}^a{}^b$ (0.05)	2.1 $\pm$ 0.22 ${}^a{}^b{}^c$ (0.08)	$\le$ 0.001
TAC level in serum (nmol/ml)	0.80 $\pm$ 0.12 (0.04)	0.28 $\pm$ 0.02 ${}^a$ (0.01)	0.32 $\pm$ 0.03 ${}^a$ (0.01)	0.58 $\pm$ 0.03 ${}^a{}^b{}^c$ (0.01)	$\le$ 0.001
Data are presented as Mean $\pm$ SD (SE). ${}^a$ Significantly different from the control group, ${}^b$ Significantly different from the diabetic group, ${}^c$ Significantly different from the D+Met group, *One Way-ANOVA test, D: Diabetes, Met: Metformin, Sil: Silymarin, MDA: Malondialdehyde, TAC: Total antioxidant capacity