Testicular Weight and Histology following Administration of Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Lophira lanceolata to Wistar Rats

This research work is focused on the effects of Lophira lanceolata leaves on testicular weight and histology of wistar rats. Twenty adult male wistar rats were divided into four groups of five rats each. Group A served as control group and was administered normal saline, Group B, C and D was treated with 100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 300mg/kg body weight of Lophira lanceolata leaf extract respectively for seven days. The rats were sacrificed a day after seven days and the testes were excised weighed and preserved in Neutral buffered formalin for histological processing using haematoxylin and eosin staining method. The results showed the control group had normal histological features such as seminiferous tubules (ST) of various sizes with an intact basement membrane and containing spermatogonia cells at various stages of maturation. The cells have thick layers with numerous spermatozoa within their lumen (L). The spermatogonia cells include the spermatogonia A and B, primary spermatocytes (S1), secondary spermatocytes (S2) and spermatids (S3). The cells have prominent oval to round deeply stained basophilic nuclei and thin rim of cytoplasm. Leydig cells lie within the interstitium (I). Experimental group B and C also showed normal histological features but treated group D showed increased intercellular space between somniferous tubules indicating a loss of Leydig cells and hence decrease in spermatogenesis. Morphological result obtained showed decrease in the weight of the testes in the group B and C and weight gain in group D. The extract produced a significant and dose dependent increase (Pless than0.05) in the weight of the testes