ABSTRACT
Aims: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of Aspilia africana on the reproductive activity of male Wistar rats. Place and Duration of Study: The research was carried out in the Department of Human Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria between January to April 2014. Methodology: Four groups of rats were administered with different doses (100, 200, 300 and 400 mg/kg) of methanolic leaf extract of Aspilia africana for 52 days. The control rats received vehicle. At the end of the experimental period, animals were sacrificed; body and reproductive organ weights were measured. Serum testosterone level was analyzed, histology of testis was accessed. Results: Aspilia africana leaf extract did not cause any change in body weights of experimental animals, however, it significantly decreased the weight of testis, epididymis, seminal vesicle and prostate gland of experimental animals. Serum testosterone was also significantly reduced in the experimental groups. Testes of experimental animals showed varying degree of degeneration such as disorganized epithelial cells, cytoplasmic abnormalities, and fibrosis compared to control. Conclusion: Methanolic leaf extract of Aspilia africana has the potential of an antispermatogenic agent; therefore its exploitation as an antifertility agent is possible.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the antispermatogenic and testicular antisteroidogenic activities of Feronia limonia fruit pulp southern India.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fourty Wistar male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus) were equally divided into four groups. Experimental groups were administered with the ethanolic extract of Feronia limonia (F. limoni) fruit pulp at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight once daily for 55 days. All treated rats had corresponding recovery groups. At the end of each treatment periods, various spermatological indices, tissue biochemicals and testicular enzymes levels were analysed. Blood profiles were also estimated.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the control, the F. limonia fruit pulp at both dose levels did not decrease body weight, which were associated with decline in epididymal sperm count, motility, viability and increased percent of abnormal sperm. Further, F. limonia fruit pulp at 500 mg/kg body weight markedly reduced the epididymal and testicular protein content by 24.58% and 29.86%, respectively, as well as the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and Δ(5)-3β-hydroxy steroid dehydrogenase) levels by 42.82% and 38.08%, respectively, while a significant elevation was observed in testicular cholesterol and ascorbic acid content. A gradual recovery of all parameters was observed after 55 days of treatment withdrawal. No significant alterations in haematological indices were observed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The present findings indicate that F. limonia fruit pulp may have reversible antispermatogenic and antisteroidogenic properties, and could partially support the traditional use as male contraceptive.</p>
Subject(s)
Animals , Female , Male , Rats , Administration, Oral , Antispermatogenic Agents , Chemistry , Pharmacology , Ascorbic Acid , Chemistry , Cell Survival , Cholesterol , Chemistry , Fruit , Chemistry , Lethal Dose 50 , Plant Extracts , Chemistry , Pharmacology , Sperm Count , Sperm Motility , Spermatozoa , Testis , Metabolism , Toxicity Tests, Acute , Tracheophyta , ChemistryABSTRACT
A ready-made Chinese herb containing the glycosides of Tripteri-gium wilfordii ( GTW ) have been reported to cause testicular atrophy in men. Various fractions isolated from GTW were screened in experiments on rats and mice to observe their antifertility effects and found that the monomer T9 among the requirements for male contraceptive need to be elucidated. T9 was administered through gastric intubation at a dose of 0.1mg/kg?d-1 7w? All the T9 treated rats exhibited minimal testicular damage at the end of seventh week of treatment, but causes severe damages mainly the epididymal, the spermatozod showed various structural abnormalities, including cracked midpiece, decapitation of the sperm head commonly ( above 90% ) . It is no malformed round or tadpoleshapes head sperms discernible, no significant changes were seen in main visceral organs, no immunosuppressive actions was observed. The potencies of anti-sperm activity of T9 is 100 times stronger than GTW.