Effect of Methanol Extract, Methanol Fraction, and N-Hexane Fraction of Parijoto Fruit (Medinilla speciosa) on Seminal Parameters and Testicular Weight of Male Sprague Dawley Rats

Abstract

Infertility occurs in 2 million couples or 17% of couples who are married more than 2 years but are not pregnant or have signs of pregnancy. In couples who do not have children, 50% of male infertility factors are caused by abnormalities in semen. Empirically, parijoto fruits (Medinilla speciosa Blume) are used by the people of Kudus, Central Java, Indonesia to increase fertility. The purpose of this research was to find out the effect of methanol extract, methanol fraction, and n-hexane fraction of parijoto fruit (Medinilla speciosa) on seminal parameters and testicular weight of male Sprague Dawley rats. This research used 36 two-month-old Sprague Dawley rats with 200-300 gram of body weight which were divided into 6 groups. Group 1 (normal); groups 2, 3, and 4, used parijoto fruit methanol extract at 100mg/kgBW, 250mg/kgBW, and 500mg/kgBW doses respectively; groups 5 and 6 used methanol fraction and n-hexane fraction of parijoto fruit at 500 mg/kgBW dose respectively for 14 days. Rats were dissected and had examinations on sperm motility, morphology, abd testicular weight. The data were analyzed using Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney. The results found that groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 had mean spermatozoa motility (%) that were 56.5±2.43, 72.5±6.89, 77.6±12.99, 83.3±7.53, 84.7±3.98, and 74.2±11.58, mean spermatozoa morphology (%) that were 95.5±3.67, 95±2.76, 92.6±5.13, 96.5±3.27, 94.3±4.37, and 93.2±6.11, and mean testicular weight (gram) that were 1.08±0.10, 0.90±0.14, 0.98±0.10, 1.18±0.21, 1.28±0.43, and 1.02±0.13. There were significant differences between the normal group and all treatments (P <0.05) on spermatozoa motility. There was no significant difference on spermatozoa morphology and testicular weight. Based on the results, it can be concluded that methanol extract, methanol fraction, and n-hexane fraction of parijoto fruit can increase spermatozoa motility of male Sprague Dawley rats.