Abstract

EFFECT OF FRACTION 1 OF PORTULACA OLERACEA ON REPRODUCTIVE PARAMETERS IN MALE WISTAR RATS

Oyedeji Kazeem Olusina*, Adegoke Olajire, Oladosu Adebayo

Abstract

Portulaca oleracea is a fleshy annual herb which is distributed throughout the temperate and tropical areas of the world. The crude extracts of this plant have been reported to have deleterious effects on reproductive parameters in male rats. Air-dried specimen of Portulaca oleracea was cold-extracted in methanol for 72 hours. The resulting methanol extract was then subjected to open column chromatography on silica gel for fractionation. Out of the 5 fractions obtained, fraction 1 was then subjected to male rats’ reproductive bioassay. Twenty male rats (120 - 150 g) were divided into control (distilled water) and fraction 1 (1, 2, 3 mg/kg) treated groups (5 per group) for hormonal assay and andrological study. The animals were orally treated on daily basis for 50 days. Plasma testosterone level was assayed using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and semen analysis was done microscopically. Treatment of rats for 50 days with fraction 1 (1 mg/kg, 2 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg) caused significant (p

Keywords: Fraction 1, Testosterone, Sperm count, Sperm motility, Rats.