Abstract

The java tea is significantly used in traditional medicine for its anti-allergic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties. The present study is designed to assess the effect of java tea after its chronic use on male reproduction, cytological and biochemical changes in Swiss albino mice. Java tea was administered orally at the doses 62.50, 125 and 250 mg/kg/day for 90 days. Higher dose of Java tea caused a significantly reduction in sperm count and motility along with an induction of morphological abnormalities in spermatozoa and also induced aberrations in sperm chromosomes compare to normal mice. Higher dose caused a significant increase in plasma levels of estradiol and decrease in testosterone levels. It also reduced the fertility index in male and female mice and that indicates towards the induction of dominant lethal mutations after sub-chronic administration of Java tea particularly in higher dose treated group. Malondialdehyde (MDA) level was found to be increased along with a concomitant reduction in Non-Protein Sulfhydryl (NP-SH) in testes tissue. In conclusion, Java tea administration at higher dose induces reproductive toxicity in mice and the study paves a path to further investigate its clinical effects on reproductive system.

Keywords:

Fertility, java tea, oxidative stress, pituitary gonadal hormones, reproductive toxicity, sperm count,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.