Testicular toxicity of aqueous extract of Phyllanthus niruri in male Wistar rat

Abstract

Most of the traditional medicine and their preparations have not been scientifically evaluated, thus limited information is available about their pharmacokinetic, efficacy and safety. The objective of the present study was to elucidate the level of testicular toxicity caused by aqueous extract of Phyllanthus niruri and its commercial formulation. Adult male Wistar rats (150 – 200 gm) were divided in three groups. Control group was given distilled water, P. niruri group was given Phyllanthus niruri whole plant extract (1000 mg/kg bw) orally for 20 days and Nirocil (market formulation of P. niruri) treated group received Nirocil tablet in distilled water (200 mg/kg bw) orally for 20 days. Antioxidant status of testes was assessed by determining the activities of antioxidant enzymes, Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Gluthione S-transferase (GST), Glutathione reductase (GRD) as well as by determining the levels of reduced GSH and levels of lipid peroxides. P. niruri treated and Nirocil treated rats showed significant increase in lipid peroxidation level compared to control. The antioxidant status was also altered in both the treated groups. Thus our study demonstrated that the aqueous extract of P. niruri and its market formulation could cause oxidative stress in experimental animals leading to testicular toxicity