title: Post-treatment with Telfairia occidentalis seed oil attenuates alcohol-induced testicular damage in Sprague-Dawley rats.
abstract: 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.
  
  
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Ademola
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ayodele Oremosu
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Edidiong
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nnamso Akang
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Madonna University, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chukwumuanya Adigwe
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Iniebehe
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Essien Okoko
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Clinical Anatomy, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: Onyemaechi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Okpara Azu
keywords: Histology; Spermcount; Telfairiaoccidentalis; Testis; Toxicity