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ABSTRACT
Since the beginning of medicine, natural products especially those derived from plants have been utilized to support human health. Plant phytochemicals have been an important contributor of new pharmaceutical breakthroughs throughout the last century. The aim of this study is to investigate the possible effects of Annona muricata on testis of adult male wistar rats. Twenty (20) male wistar rats were housed in the Department of Anatomy, University of Benin. The animals were allowed to acclimatize for a period of two weeks before commencement of experiment. Annona muricata leaves were purchased from a shop at Uselu market, Benin City. The plant was identified at Herbarium of the Department of Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin city. The rats were randomly assigned into a Control group (A) and three treatment groups (B, C and D) containing five (5) rats each. Rats in Group B, C and D were administered with 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg and 1500 mg/kg body weight of the Annona muricata extract respectively; The body weight of animals was taken daily, throughout the experimental period of 28 days and the weight difference determined. At the end of the experimental period, the rats were sacrificed under chloroform anesthesia. A midline incision was made through the walls of the abdomen and the testes were excised, weight and fixed in 10% buffered saline for histological preparation. The result obtained showed that the histology of testis of rat in the control group had normal histoarchitecture in the seminiferous tubules with the lumen filled with sperm. There was no histological difference in the architecture of testis histology of rats treated with each of the doses of the extract in group B, C, D. It is recommended that further studies be carried out to corroborate these findings.
