Profiling of seminal antioxidant indices and sperm quality in Plasmodium berghei- induced malarial mice treated with Phyllanthus amarus

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the antiplasmodial activity of Phyllanthus (P.) amarus crude ethanol leaf extract and its effects on semen quality in male BALB/c mice.Methods: A total of 36 adult mice were divided into six groups, with 6 mice each. Five groups were infected with Plasmodium (P.) berghei, and one group was left uninfeceted. Of the five infected groups, one group was left untreated, three groups were treated with varying doses (100, 250 and 400 mg/kg) of P. amarus crude ethanol leaf extract orally for 4 days, and another group was treated with standard drug, artemether and lumefantrine (Lonart®DS). Antiplasmodial activity, seminal quality, some biochemical indices (neutral α -glucosidase, fructose, and citric acid) in seminal plasma and seminal antioxidant markers (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity, and acid phosphates) were determined. The mice were euthanized 3 days post treatment and semen was collected from the caudal epididymis and processed for analysis using documented methods and procedures.Results: Malarial infection led to oxidative stress, causing a significant decline in seminal quality (P<0.05). However, treatment with P. amarus crude ethanol leaf extract alleviated oxidative stress and significantly improved seminal quality. The improvement was dose-dependent and compared well with the standard drug, artemether and lumefantrine (Lonart®DS) treatment.Conclusions: The ethanol leaf extracts of P. amarus alleviate male reproductive capacity during malaria infection in murine model by enhancing antioxidant activities.