Male contraceptive efficacy of poly herbal formulation, contracept-TM, composed of aqueous extracts of Terminalia chebula fruit and Musa balbisiana seed in rat

Figures & data

Table 1. Effect of separate extract or ‘Contracept-TM’ of T. chebula, M. balbisiana or CPA on body weight, testiculo-somatic, epididymal somatic and seminal vesiculo-somatic indices in male rat.

Groups	Body weight (g)		Relative organ weights (g/100 g body weight)
	Initial	Final	Testis	Epididymis	Seminal vesicle
	Control	125.34 ± 3.54^a	138.42 ± 3.65^a	1.64 ± 0.07^a	0.48 ± 0.04^a	0.41 ± 0.02^a
T. chebula treated	132.42 ± 3.25^a	144.32 ± 2.41^a	1.18 ± 0.05^b	0.32 ± 0.03^b	0.27 ± 0.04^b
M. balbisiana treated	128.64 ± 2.64^a	142.62 ± 2.54^a	1.21 ± 0.06^b	0.29 ± 0.05^b	0.28 ± 0.03^b
Contracept-TM	130.72 ± 2.74^a	145.85 ± 3.34^a	0.91 ± 0.07^c	0.19 ± 0.04^c	0.16 ± 0.04^c
CPA treated	126.48 ± 3.21^a	137.46 ± 2.65^a	1.04 ± 0.06^c	0.12 ± 0.03^d	0.15 ± 0.03^c

Data represented as Mean ± SEM, n = 6. ‘ANOVA followed by Multiple Comparison Student’s two tail t-test’. Data with different superscripts (a, b, c, d) differ from each other significantly, p < 0.05.

Table 2. Cauda epididymal sperm count, motility, viability, levels of serum testosterone, testicular cholesterol and seminal vesicular fructose in separate extract or ‘Contracept-TM’ of T. chebula, M. balbisiana or CPA-treated group.

Group	Sperm count(million /ml)	Sperm motility (%)	Sperm viability (%)	Serum testosterone (ng/ml)	Testicular cholesterol(mg/g of tissue)	Seminal vesicularfructose (µg/g of tissue)
Control	26.18 ± 1.68^a	84.28 ± 1.29^a	86.29 ± 1.72^a	14.28 ± 0.5^a	30.28 ± 1.15^a	0.082 ± 0.004^a
T. chebula treated	18.15 ± 1.75^b (30.67% ↓)	64.22 ± 1.68^b (23.80% ↓)	66.71 ± 1.62^b (22.69% ↓)	10.26 ± 0.8^b (28.15% ↓)	36.22 ± 1.42^b (19.61% ↑)	0.058 ± 0.003^b (29.26% ↓)
M. balbisiana treated	17.13 ± 1.52^b (34.56% ↓)	62.78 ± 1.52^b (25.51% ↓)	64.25 ± 1.48^b (25.54% ↓)	9.18 ± 0.6^b (35.71% ↓)	38.26 ± 1.06^b (26.35% ↑)	0.057 ± 0.003^b (30.48% ↓)
Contracept-TM	11.15 ± 1.61^c (57.41% ↓)	52.17 ± 1.98^c (38.09% ↓)	56.22 ± 1.79^c (34.84% ↓)	6.25 ± 0.5^c (56.23% ↓)	44.58 ± 1.05^c (47,22% ↑)	0.031 ± 0.004^c (62.19% ↓)
CPA treated	9.28 ± 1.78^c (64.55% ↓)	49.29 ± 1.76^c (41.51% ↓)	54.28 ± 1.82^c (37.09% ↓)	5.22 ± 0.6^c (63.44% ↓)	45.22 ± 1.37^c (49.33% ↑)	0.036 ± 0.004^c (56.09% ↓)

Data expressed as Mean ± SEM, n = 6. ‘ANOVA followed by Multiple Comparison Student’s two tail t-test’. Percentage has been calculated in respect to control. Data having different superscripts (a, b, c) differ from each other significantly, p < 0.05.

Figure 1. Activities of testicular Δ5, 3β-HSD and 17β-HSD after treatment with separate extract or ‘Contracept-TM’ of T. chebula, M. balbisiana or CPA. Bars expressed in terms of Mean ± SEM, n = 6. ‘ANOVA followed by Multiple Comparison Student’s two tail t-test’. Bars with different superscripts (a, b, c) differ from each other significantly, p < 0.05.

Figure 2. Catalase, peroxidase activities and levels of CD, TBARS in sperm pellet in T. chebula, M. balbisiana separate extract or ‘Contracept-TM’ or CPA-treated group. Bars expressed in terms of Mean ± SEM, n = 6. ‘ANOVA followed by Multiple Comparison Student’s two tail t-test’. Bars with different superscripts, i.e., (a, b, c, d) differ from each other significantly, p < 0.05.

Figure 3. Histology of testis 400 X (Hematoxylin Eosin Stain). Representative microphotographs of a vehicle control (A), T. chebula (B), M. balbisiana (C), ‘Contracept-TM’ (D) and CPA (E) treated rat. Vehicle control group rat showed normal spermatogenesis at stage VII and STD. Different individual extract, ‘Contracept-TM’ and CPA-treated groups showed significant decrease in the number of different generations of germ cells at stage VII and STD in respect to the vehicle control group (p < 0.05).

Table 3. Effect of T. chebula, M. balbisiana in separate extract or ‘Contracept-TM’ or CPA on the number of different generations of germ cells at stage VII of seminiferous epithelial cell cycle.

Groups	ASg	pLSc	mPSc	7Sd	STD ×400(µm)
Control	1.65 ± 0.06^a	19.62 ± 0.59^a	18.25 ± 0.88^a	64.50 ± 1.79^a	554.35 ± 12.08^a
T. chebula treated	1.05 ± 0.07^b (36.36% ↓)	15.87 ± 0.71^b (19.11% ↓)	13.02 ± 0.61^b (28.65% ↓)	45.37 ± 1.82^b (29.65% ↓)	423.19 ± 18.23^b (23.60% ↓)
M. balbisiana treated	1.15 ± 0.06^b (30.30% ↓)	14.62 ± 0.88^b (25.48% ↓)	14.12 ± 0.78^b (22.63% ↓)	48.75 ± 1.58^b (24.41% ↓)	438.37 ± 12.60^b (20.92% ↓)
Contracept-TM	0.92 ± 0.08^c (44.24% ↓)	9.87 ± 0.93^c (49.69% ↓)	10.50 ± 0.82^c (42.46% ↓)	34.75 ± 1.49^c (46.12% ↓)	328.14 ± 13.53^c (40.83% ↓)
CPA treated	0.84 ± 0.06^c (49.09% ↓)	8.77 ± 0.78^c (55.30% ↓)	9.62 ± 0.68^c (47.28% ↓)	31.22 ± 1.62^c (51.59% ↓)	342.22 ± 15.64^c (38.30% ↓)

Data expressed as Mean ± SEM, n = 6. ‘ANOVA followed by Multiple Comparison Student’s two tail t-test’. Percentage has been calculated in respect to the vehicle control. Data having different superscripts (a, b, c) differ from each other significantly, p < 0.05.