Histological and Hormonal Response of Hypothalamus and Pituitary Gland to Alchornea cordifolia in male Wistar Rats

With the high rate of infertility within our society, most men have resolve into using herbs as first treatment. Alchornea cordifolia is one of the plants used as performance enhancers in livestock and poultry industry therefore, this research proposes to find out the effect of this extract on the hypothalamic-pituitary response to hormone profile in male wistar rats. Group A animals served as normal control and were given normal saline of 0.5ml, Group B, C and D animals received daily administration of 500mg/kgw, 1000mg/kgw and 1500mg/kgw of the extract respectively for a period of 28 days. Results from this study showed no significant differences in the serum concentrations of hormones studied, cytoarchitecture of hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Extract of Alchornea cordifolia leaves may not to have positive effects on the hypothalamic-pituitary response to the hormone profile in male wistar rats and as such not enhance effect on fertility.

Key Words: Alchornea cordifolia, Hormones, infertility