Antifertility Effects of P-Alaxin in Male Adult Wistar Rats

Abstract

P-alaxin, an artemisinin based combined therapy is very effective in treating malaria infection in areas of high resistance to conventional antimalarial drugs. It is a potentially promising anti-malaria drug that is composed of dihydroartemisinin and piperaquine phosphate. The present study investigates the fertility effects of therapeutic dose of P-alaxin. Fifteen male adult wistar rats of weighing between 150 and 210gm were grouped into three consisting of 5 males per group. The control group was orally administered with normal saline, the test and recovery groups were given body weight 15.4mg/kg of P-alaxin orally for three days after which the recovery group was allowed to recover from the drug’s effect for another three days. The animals were sacrificed twenty four (24) hours after the experiment.  The blood samples were collected through cardiac puncture.The result showed significant difference (p ≤0.05) in sperm count, sperm motility, sperm viability as well as in serum testosterone level of the male rats administered with P- alaxin and the recovery group when compared with the control group.The results suggest that oral administration of P – alaxin has significant negative effects (P <0.05) on sperm parameters and serum testosterone and could reduce male wistar rats fertility.

Keywords: P-alaxin, artemisinin, antimalarial, sperm parameters, serum testosterone