Abstract
Background
Numerous uses of Waltheria indica plant such as antitrypanosomal, antibacterial and antimalarial effects have been reported. It has however been reported that most plants with antibacterial and antiprotozoal effects have adverse effect on male reproduction. Hence, we evaluated the effect of Waltheria indica root on male reproductive parameters.
Methods
Twenty adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups (n=5); A–D. Group A served as control group while groups B, C and D were administered with 200, 400 and 800 mg/Kg body weight of crude ethanolic extract of Waltheria indica root. After 28 days of administration, the rats were sacrificed and sperm parameters, sperm morphology, serum reproductive hormones and lipids were determined.
Results
There was a significant reduction in sperm count and motility as well as significant increase in percentage abnormal sperm cell (p<0.001) at the 400 and 800 mg/kg BW. The serum levels of testosterone was also significantly reduced while total cholesterol increased significantly (p<0.05) at the highest dose.
Conclusion
Waltheria indica root has adverse effect on male reproduction through reduction in sperm parameters and male reproductive hormones.
Acknowledgments
This paper was extracted from a PhD thesis.
Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
Research funding: None declared.
Employment or leadership: None declared.
Honorarium: None declared.
Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Reviews
- A review on the management of asthma in the Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine
- Yogic practices on oxidative stress and of antioxidant level: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials
- Pre-clinical studies
- The effect of different partitions of seaweed Sargassum plagyophylum on depression behavior in mice model of despair
- Adverse reproductive effects of ethanolic root extract of Waltheria indica in male Wistar rats
- Antidiabetic and antioxidative properties of the hydro-methanolic extract (60:40) of rhizomes of Curcuma amada roxb. (Zingiberaceae) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male albino rat: a dose-dependent study through biochemical and genomic approaches
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- Antibacterial, anthelmintic, and analgesic activities of Piper sylvaticum (Roxb.) leaves and in silico molecular docking and PASS prediction studies of its isolated compounds
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- Pharmacodynamic interaction of cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum L.) with glyburide in diabetes
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