Telfairia occidentalis-supplemented diet induces changes in sperm parameters and testosterone level in rats

Abstract

The growing patronage on herbal remedies and formulations from natural products in most developing countries has warranted research into certain health challenges including their antifertility effects. This study assessed the effects of boiled Telfairia occidentalis (TO) seed-supplemented diets on the level of testosterone and semen quality in Wistar rats. Boiled TO seed diets at 10%, 15% and 30% were given to rats for 60 days. Our study showed that sperm quality was impaired as evidenced by the decreased number of motile spermatozoa, epididymal sperm numbers, percentage live/dead ratio and increased numbers of abnormal spermatozoa comparable to control values (p < .05). Feeding of rats with 10% and 15% TO seed-supplemented diets increased testosterone levels nonsignificantly, while in the 30% TO seed diet animals, the level of serum testosterone was found to decrease significantly compared to control values. Furthermore, TO diet caused a nonsignificant increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase and the concentrations of reduced glutathione and malondialdehyde except for the significant increase in malondialdehyde level in the testes of the 10% TO diet group. A nonsignificant decrease in myeloperoxidase activity was also observed in the 10% and 15% but not 30% TO diet group. Histological damages characterised by severe loss of germ cells were more pronounced in the 10% TO diet group. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of boiled TO seeds revealed the presence of esters, alkenes, hydroxyl and alcohol functional groups. Thus, boiled TO seed-supplemented diet evoked antifertility effects in rats, and the effects on the toxicity end points investigated were not dose-dependent.

Salubrious effects of a vermiculite–cellulose‐based bionanocomposite on oxidative stress indices and histomorphology of male Wistar rats

“…The association between testicular dysfunction and free radical‐induced oxidative stress has been pointed out by other researchers (Asadi, Bahmani, Kheradmand, & Rafieian‐Kopaei, ; Njoku, Abarikwu, Uwakwe, & Mgbudom‐Okah, ; Owumi, Ochaoga, Odunola, & Farombi, ). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be propagated via the deliberate or unwitting biological activities of specific oxidases and cytochrome P450 superfamily (Kaur, Kaur, & Bansal, ).…”

Dietary fluted pumpkin seeds induce reversible oligospermia and androgen insufficiency in adult rats

“…The reversibility of antispermatogenic effects of fluted pumpkin seeds (FPS) were illustrated in this study. The statistically unchanged final body, absolute and relative weight of the testes rats during administration of DFPS depicts absence of systemic toxicity (Verma and Singh 2017;Njoku et al 2018). It is also important to note that unchanged testicular weight as a result of treatment with antifertility/antispermatogenic agents has been previously described by us and others (Mishra and Singh 2005;Thakur et al 2014;Ain et al 2018;Njoku et al 2018).…”

“…The statistically unchanged final body, absolute and relative weight of the testes rats during administration of DFPS depicts absence of systemic toxicity (Verma and Singh 2017;Njoku et al 2018). It is also important to note that unchanged testicular weight as a result of treatment with antifertility/antispermatogenic agents has been previously described by us and others (Mishra and Singh 2005;Thakur et al 2014;Ain et al 2018;Njoku et al 2018). The decline in sperm viability, motility and epididymal sperm numbers as well as elevated abnormal sperm morphology in rats fed fluted pumpkin seed-supplemented diet compared to control values implies that DFPS adversely altered the quality of the stored sperms in the epididymis (Rajalakshmi 1992;Verma and Singh 2017).…”

“…As food, the fleshy kernel obtained from deshelled and boiled seeds of T. occidentalis is consumed as snacks while its fermented form is used as seasoning to flavor soup (Akoroda 1990;Saalu et al 2010). It is now thought that some components of T. occidentalis seeds including alkaloids, tannins, oxalates, and erucic acid could provoke diverse biochemical, physiological and morphological outcomes (Saalu et al 2010;Akang et al 2011;Njoku et al 2018).…”

“…Though the treatment duration in Saalu et al (2010) was longer than the spermatogenic cycle for rats, the dose at which the testiculotoxic effects were observed were also too high to be encountered in most natural health foods. In our earlier study, we had supplemented rat standard diet with boiled seeds of T. occidentalis at doses of 10% (100 g/kg), 15% (150 g/kg) and 30% (300 g/kg) and evaluated their effect on the rat testis through the complete duration of spermatogenic cycle, and also observed degenerated seminiferous epithelium accompanied with loss of germ cells, as well as altered sperm quality (Njoku et al 2018).…”