Semen Quality and Gonadometric Assessment of Male Wistar Rats treated with Aqueous Leaf Extract of Chasmathera dependens (Hochst)

Abstract

Chasmanthera dependens (Hochst), a well-known medicinal plant widely used as pain-killer in Africa, however, its effects on
fertility have not been fully studied. The effect of aqueous leaf extract of Chasmathera dependens (Hochst) (ALECD) on sperm
quality and gonadometric indices of the male Wistar rats was studied. Twenty-five adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned
into 5 groups A-E. Groups A-D were orally treated with 25mg/kg, 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg of the extract respectively.
Group E served as the control and was given only distilled water. The treatment lasted for 21 days after which the rats were
humanely sacrificed and samples (blood, semen, testes and epididymis) were collected for laboratory analysis. The treatment did
not show any deleterious changes in the haematological parameters studied. There was an increase in sperm motility, livability
and sperm count of rats treated with 100 mg/kg. Conversely, there was a decrease in the semen parameters of groups treated with
25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg of the ALECD. The treatment also caused a significant decrease in the number of
morphologically abnormal sperm cells across the groups. There were no significant changes in the testicular and epididymal
biometry of the treated rats across the groups. The aqueous leaf extract of Chasmathera dependens possesses fertility enhancing
effect at100 mg/kg by improving the semen quality and maintaining gonadometric integrity of male rats. Therefore, the plant can
be used to improve the fertility of the male breeding stock at 100 mg/kg body weight.