Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the effects of Vitex doniana leaf extract on testicular torsion of Wistar rats with a view to determining its effects on sperm motility, sperm count and serum testosterone level.  Methods: Thirty adult male Wistar rats weighing 120 - 160 g, obtained from the Animal House of the College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife were used for this study. The rats were randomly assigned into six groups (n = 5). All surgical procedures were performed under ketamine anaesthesia (5 mg/kg i.m). All animals in each group had their left testes twisted at 720°, left for one hour, sutured back and were then treated for 7 days except group A that had their left testes exposed but not twisted for one hour (sham surgery) and then received distilled water for 7 days. Group B rats were left untreated, groups C, D and E received 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg of Vitex doniana extract respectively while group F received 100 mg/kg of vitamin C. At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed using lethal dose of ketamine (100 mg/kg) and blood samples were collected through cardiac puncture into plain bottles. Serum testosterone, sperm count and motility were measured. Data collected were analyzed using One-way ANOVA and Student Newman- Keuls post- hoc test for multiple comparisons. Results: There was a significant reduction in the sperm motility in group B (44 ± 2.45%) when compared with group A (93 ± 1.23%) and the treated groups: C, D, E and F (55 ± 4.64%; 65 ± 1.58%; 85 ± 2.00% and 79 ± 1.87% respectively) (F = 44.03; p = 0.0001). There was a significant reduction in sperm count in group B (88.2 ± 4.63%) when compared with A (130.2 ± 4.84%) and the treated groups: C, D, E and F (97.8 ± 2.31%; 109.8 ± 4.14%; 117.4 ± 6.62% and 126.8 ± 8.71% respectively) (F = 8.66; p = 0.0001). Testosterone level in group B was significantly lowered (0.50 ± 0.14 ng/dl) when compared with group A (1.85 ± 0.52 ng/dl) and the treated groups: C, D, E and F (0.62 ± 0.02 ng/dl; 0.62 ± 0.24 ng/dl; 0.74 ± 0.18 ng/dl and 0.88 ± 0.50 ng/dl) (F = 2.20; p = 0.0004). Conclusion: The study concluded that aqueous extract of Vitex doniana leaves had ameliorative effect on the sperm quality and testosterone concentration in the torsioned rat model