EFFECTS OF JUSSIAEA REPENS L ON SPERM DNA INTEGRITY IN MALE ALBINO RATS

Fertility control is an issue of global challenge. Researchers are trying to develop male herbal contraceptives from natural sources. Jussiaea repens L (JR) is such an herb which is reported to have non toxic antigonadal activity in male rats. The present study has designed to evaluate whether crude queous extract of JR affects the DNA integrity of spermatozoa and also to study whether its actions are reversible or not. In this study, toluidine blue (TB), acridine orange (AO) and aniline blue (AB) staining were used to assess sperm chromatin / DNA integrity and comet assay for sperm DNA damage. Results show that the DNA integrity or denaturation by TB, AO and AB positive staining of spermatozoa of  JR treated group were significantly  increased when compared with control. But TB positive staining was much higher (34.51%) than AO (27.06 %) and AB (18.91%) positive staining. But no denaturation was observed in epididymal spermatozoa of rats after withdrawal of extract treatment.  Results of Comet assay also support the reduced change in Head DNA % and increase in Tail DNA %, Tail length (TL), Comet length (CL), Tail movement( TM) and Olive tail movement (OTM)  than control groups. However, in the recovery group no significant changes were observed. All parameters returned almost towards control in withdrawal group suggesting the reversible action of extract. So, it may be concluded that Jussiaea repens at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight/day for 28 days, induce temporary DNA damage of epididymal spermatozoa and infertility in rats. So, at regulated dose and duration, Jussiaea repens extract can be used as non-toxic male herbal contraceptive in future.