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Effect on body and organ weights
Random bred Swiss albino rats were used. Thirty-two males of proven fertility, weighing between 130g and 150g. were separated into three groups. Group 1 of 8
animals (control) was administered daily, intramuscularly, with 0.12 ml of distilled water. Group II of 12 animals was administered daily, intramuscularly, with 0.12 ml
of solution of alkaloidal salts in water (1 mg), while Group III of 12 animals was administered daily 0.1 ml solution of testosterone enanthate in sterilized arachis
oil (4 mg) for three weeks. After 20 and 30 days of treatment, 4 animals from each of the three groups were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the testes, prostate
and seminal vesicles were removed, cleared of extraneous material and weighed (Table 1). Testes of animals of both batches (20 and 30 days of experiment).
Table I
Effect of total alkaloids of Mucuna pruriens on organ and body weights of albino rats
|
Group of albino rats
|
Weight of animal
|
Avg. wt. of left and right testes in mg
|
Avg. wt. of left and right seminal vesicles in mg
|
Wt. of prostate in mg
|
|
At the onset of the expt.
|
On the day of sacrifice
|
|
Group I
Control
|
140.2
|
141.1
|
826.5
|
204.5
|
99.9
|
|
Group II
Total Alkaloids
|
143.7
|
145.9
|
917.2
|
230.7
|
119.0
|
|
Group III
Testosterone
|
147.9
|
153.3
|
989.1
|
246.4
|
124.0
|
|
After 30 days
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Group I
Control
|
134.9
|
135.0
|
724.6
|
170.5
|
92.7
|
|
Group II
Total Alkaloids
|
134.2
|
134.5
|
837.0
|
192.0
|
118.0
|
|
Group III
Testosterone
|
143.0
|
145.0
|
900.3
|
214.5
|
124.8
|
|
were cut into small pieces and fixed in Bouin's fixative for six hours for histological studies at the
respective times of their sacrifice. They were then dehydrated by varying percentages of ethanol and embedded in paraffin wax. Sections were cut(6u), stained with haemotoxylin and eosin. Photomicrographic
of the sections are shown in Figures 1-6.
|
T.S. of testes of the control group of rats showing normal division activity of germinal epithelial cells at the 20th day of the experiment.
|
T.S. of testes of the control group of rats showing normal division activity of germinal epithelial cells at the 30th day of experiment.
|
T.S. of testes of the total alkaloids group of rats showing seminiferous tubules having a large number of spermatids at the 20th day of experiment.
|
|
T.S. of testes of the total alkaloids group of rats showing greater number of spermatids in the seminiferous tubules at the 30th day of experiment.
|
T.S. of testes of the enanthate group of rats showing densely situated spermatids in the seminiferous tubules at the 20th day, comparable with the T.S. of the testes of the
total alkaloids, group of rats at the 20th day.
|
T.S. of testes of the enanthate group of rats at the 30th day, shwoing larger number of spermatids in the seminiferous tubules than in sections cut at the 20th day.
|
|
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