Post-treatment with Telfairia occidentalis seed oil attenuates alcohol-induced testicular damage in Sprague-Dawley rats

Background: long term alcohol use has been implicated in men with sexual disorders including suppression of testosterone levels as well as testicular morphological changes. objective: this research investigated the ability of telfairia occidentalis (t.o.) to attenuate the damaging effects of alcohol on the testicular parameters. materials and methods: thirty male sprague-dawley rats, 170-190 grams were divided into 6 groups, a to f and treated with distilled water (dw) for the period of 8 weeks (positive control group a), ethanol for 2 weeks followed with dw for 6 weeks (group b) (negative control), ethanol alone for 2 weeks (group c) while others received ethanol for 2 weeks, followed with 200 (group d), 400 (group e) and 600 mg/kg (group f) of t.o. for 6 weeks. results: testicular histological sections showed that ethanol produced marked loss of testicular germ cells after two weeks of administration. t.o (200 mg/kg body weight) was not able to attenuate this microanatomical distortion when compared with control groups, but at 400 mg/kg body weight, t.o reversed the ethanol`s effects with resultant significant increase in sperm count and motility (p<0.05), serum testosterone levels (p<0.05), and testicular weight (p<0.05). however, at 600 mg/kg dosage, there was marked depletion of testicular germ cells with atrophied seminiferous tubules and a decrease in semen parameters and testicular weight. conclusion: our result suggests that t.o promotes the regeneration of testicular germ cells and improves semen quality at a certain critical dose. hence, t.o has a potential of reversing ethanol induced testicular damage.