SAFETY AND FERTILITY ENHANCING ROLE OF MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAVES AQUEOUS EXTRACT IN NEW ZEALAND RABBIT BUCKS

Walaa H. Khalifa, Faten M. Ibrahim, Aida I. El makawy*, Hafiza A. Sharaf, Wagdy K. B. Khalil, Nagwa A. Maghraby

The objective of this study is to evaluate the safety of Moringa oleifer leaves aqueous extract and its role on fertility of New Zealand rabbit bucks. Two doses of Moringa oleifera leaves extract (200 and 400 mg/kg/day) were administrated to rabbit bucks via gavage for 21 days. Sildenafil citrate at dosage of 5mg/kg was used as reference drug. Liver, kidney and lipid profile functions were evaluated as safety profile agent of Moringa oleifera leaves extract. Fertility parameters such as body weight, testosterone and thyroid hormones levels, physical characteristics of epididymal sperm, expression of reproductive genes and histopatholological changes in rabbit bucks were investigated to evaluate the role of Moringa oleifera on enhancing the fertility of rabbit bucks. Results revealed that Moringa oleifera did not cause any toxic effect. In addition, the results illustrated that the effect of Moringa oleifera in enhancing male fertility clearly manifested in increase the level of testosterone, thyroid activity, sperm (motility, viability, membrane integrity), up regulation of reproductive gene expression. In addition, Moringa oleifera showed improvement in the histological structure of rabbit bucks testicular tissue. Based on these findings, we can conclude that the aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera leaves is safe and has the potential to enhancing the rabbit bucks fertility.