Abstract

Herbal medicine is becoming increasingly popular in most African countries. Undoubtedly, the intake rates of diverse plants as herbs have some influence that is not immediately evident but should be researched. This led to our study which sought to evaluate the effects of African eggplant, bitter leaf, and its combination treatment on male reproductive function. Twenty (20) male Wistar rats grouped to 5 male Wistar rats per experimental group were used in this study. Each groups were treated as stated respectively: administration of 1000mg/100kg ethanol leaf extracts of African eggplant to test group B, 100mg/100kg ethanol extracts of bitter leaf to test group C, 1000mg/100kg each combination of ethanol leaf extracts of both African eggplant and bitter leaf to test group D and were monitored within for a period of 14 days while the control group received no treatment. According to the findings of our study, the combination of African eggplant and bitter leaf had no significant effect on the weight of the testis; each plant had a reduced sperm count, motility and disruption of morphology of the sperm when compared to the control group. Combination treatment revealed a significant increase in the level of GSH and MDA, decrease in SOD and CAT, when compared to the control group which disclosed minimal antioxidant level treatment effect on the oxidative cells of the testis. Our result showed that doses range should be of keen interest in other finding using combination treatment of both plants.