Fertility booster effect of Asparagus racemosus against arsenic induced reproductive toxicity in Charles Foster rats.

In Bihar, an estimated 10 million are exposed to arsenic poisoning through drinking of water. The entire Gangetic plain region people are exposed to arsenic poisoning which is causing lot of health hazards including the problem of infertility. Usually, the infertility problem is associated with the hormonal imbalances and arsenic is a xenoestrogen toxicant which plays major role in causing the imbalance. Moreover, this reproductive disorder has become a major problem in the society causing social stigma in the exposed population. Therefore, there is indeed need for search of novel drug which may play major role in combating the present problem. The present study therefore aims to discover fertility booster against the arsenic induced male reproductive toxicity in animal models. The current study was conducted on Charles Foster Rats after approval by the Animal Ethics Committee of the Institution. A total of n=18 rats (12 weeks of age) with a mean weight of 160±20 g was used in this study. The study group consisted of n=6 controls and n=12 orally treated with sodium arsenite at a dose of 8mg/Kg b.w per day for 40 days. The n= 6 animals were dissected and rest n=6 was administered orally with Asparagus racemosus root ethanolic extract at the dose of 400mg/Kg b.w per day for 40 days. At the end of the entire experiment, all the animals were dissected out and their reproductive organs were taken out especially epididymis for sperm counts, sperm motility, sperm mortality, sperm morphology. The blood samples were taken for hormonal determination (testosterone and luteinizing hormone), as well as for haematological and biochemical analysis. The study showed a severe degeneration in the reproductive organs of the arsenictreated rats. There were degenerative changes in sperm count, sperm motility, sperm mortality, sperm morphology, in the hormonal parameters, as well as in the hematological and biochemical parameters in the arsenic treated rats. But, in the Asparagus racemosus root ethanolic extract treated group, there was significant normalization in all these parameters. Therefore, in the present study, the Asparagus racemosus root ethanolic extract at the dose of 400mg/Kg/body weight per day shows significant fertility boost effect on arsenic induced Charles Foster rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]