Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effects of Withania coagulans extract and morphine on spermatogenesis in rats

Ali Noori¹ , Leila Amjad¹, Fereshteh Yazdani²

¹Department of Biology; ²Young Researchers and Elite Club, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

For correspondence:- Ali Noori Email: ali.noori55@gmail.com Tel:+98913169918

Accepted: 11 March 2019 Published: 30 April 2019

Citation: Noori A, Amjad L, Yazdani F. Effects of Withania coagulans extract and morphine on spermatogenesis in rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(4):817-822 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i4.19

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the comparative effects of Withania coagolans extract and morphine on spermatogenesis in rats

Methods: W. coagolans was collected from Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran and 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight doses of methanol extract and 5, 10 and 15 mg/kg body weight doses of morphine were administered parenterally to the rats which were divided into groups. Blood samples were collected and the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and testosterone were assayed. The testicular tissue was isolated for histopathological examination.

Results: No significant changes were observed in levels of LH, FSH and testosterone in treated groups (p < 0.05). However, there was significant difference between the treated groups for extract plus morphine groups, in terms of the number of spermatogonium, spermatocytes and spermatide variation. Moreover, the results indicate tissue disorders in all groups relative to control. The extract caused more disturbances in spermatogenesis compared to morphine, and appears to improve parameters related to spermatogenesis.

Conclusion: The results show that the higher dose of Withania coagolans extract (100 mg/kg) exerts varying effects on reproductive parameters. Moreover, the lower dose of Withania coagolans extract (50 mg/kg) enhanced spermatogenesis while also protecting against the damaging effects of morphine.

Keywords: Morphine, Spermatogenesis, Spermatogonium, Spermatide, Spermatocyte, Withania coagolans