the ameliorating role of oral administration of basella alba methanol extract in nicotine-induced testicular toxicity of wistar rats

Background: nicotine is a potential cause of male infertility due to its ability to induce testicular damage. this study investigated the influence of basella alba (ba) on possible nicotine-induced testicular damage.methods: twenty male wistar rats were divided into four random groups namely; healthy control (hc) in which rats were administered only normal saline, nicotine control (nc) which received high dose nicotine only (1.0mg/kg), low dose nicotine, basella alba  treatment group (ldn + ba) given nicotine (0.5mg/kg) plus methanol extract of basella alba  (200mg/kg) and high dose nicotine, basella alba  treatment group (hdn + ba) in which rats received nicotine (1.0mg/kg) plus basella alba  extract (200mg/kg). rats were euthanized via exsanguination after five weeks of treatment and testes extracted for histological analysis. blood samples were also analyzed for gonadal hormones.results: there was a significant decline (p<0.05) in body weight, testicular weight, and serum testosterone but elevated follicle stimulating hormone (fsh) and luteinizing hormone (lh) in nc rats when compared with hc. rats in ldn + ba and hdn + ba showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in serum testosterone and a corresponding decrease (p<0.05) in fsh and lh levels when compared to rats in nc. additionally, testicular photomicrographs revealed significant histoarchitectural distortions in nc rats when compared to hc. these anomalies were found to be either milder or absent in ldn + ba and hdn + ba groups.conclusions: nicotine induces both structural and functional testicular damage that is ameliorated by basella alba possibly due to the high antioxidant composition.