Abstract:
Globally, infertility affects approximately 15% of sexually active couples with male factors accounting for 20% to 50% of all cases. Most of the researches on infertility have generally been focused on women and the available chemotherapies exhibit many adverse effects. This study was aimed at investigating the male fertility enhancing activities of
Croton zambescicus root. Powdered sample of C. Zambescicus (CZ) root was macerated in methanol at room temperature for 72 hrs, the resulting extract (pilot methanol) was evaluated on Wistar rats for toxicity and male fertility enhancing potentials. The root powder was also successively macerated into n-hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and methanol, and the extracts were investigated using Wistar rats (sperm indices) and
Drosophila melanogaster [survival study, mating latency (ML), copulation duration (CD), fly emergence / % fertility] models. Mesterolone (10 mg/kg) and Sildenafil (2 mg/kg) were used as standards for Wistar rats and Drosophila models respectively. All data were analysed using Student T-test and Graph pad prism 5.02, level of significance was placed at p ≤ 0.05 Results showed that
Croton zambescicus had LD50 of 1523.15 mg/kg bwt., survival study on successive extracts of CZ with drosophila showed that the extracts are safe above 400 mg/kg dose level. 200 mg/kg bwt. of CZ pilot methanol extract produced the most significant sperm count (117.40 ±7.28) when compared to the untreated group (83.27±3.51) and mesterolone (107 ± 5.08). All concentrations of ethyl acetate extract showed significant reduction in ML (p≤ 0.05 top ≤ 0.001) and better CD but 400mg/kg diet of ethyl acetate extract was the only significant concentration for copulation duration when compared to untreated group (1 ml of 0.1% Tween 80 per kg diet). Ethyl acetate extract showed highest % fertility increase (58.95± 4.03) in 400 mg/kg (p ≤ 0.001) relative to negative control (0.00 ± 0.48). Sildenafil (positive control) had significant mating latency and copulation duration but a non-significant % increase (6.10 ± 2.31) in fertility In this study,
Croton Zambesicus root was proven to be effective in the regulation of fertility. However, the right choice of extracting solvent has to be made in using
Croton zambesicus in the management of infertility.
