gonadal histo-morphologies and serum hormonal milieu in female rats treated with azadirachta indica leaf extract

background: azadirachta indica is a tree with most of the parts having various medicinal values. it is however popular because of its high potencies, as antimalarial and anti-fertility agents, which the locals still exploit. objective: we investigated the effect of the methanol leaf extract on the serum levels of the pituitary-gonad hormones and the histo-morphology of the ovary and uterus of adult female rats. materials and methods: eighteen adult female wistar rats were divided into three groups (a, b and c) of six animals each. group a was the control group that received distilled water orally, while groups b and c were the experimental groups that received 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of the extract respectively by oral intubation for fourteen days. the animals were sacrificed on the fifteenth day, and blood was collected from the left ventricles of the hearts and subsequently spurned in heparinized bottles for serum hormonal assay. the ovaries and the uteri were then dissected out and preserved in bouin’s fluid. routine haematoxylin and eosin method was used to stain them. results: there were significant (p<0.0001) lower serum levels of luteinizing hormone (lh) in the treatment groups, especially in the 400mg/kg group, while there were significant (p<0.0001) higher progesterone (ph) levels in the treatment groups. the follicle stimulating hormone (fsh) levels were however not different (p=0.0502) from the control. the histo-morphologic studies revealed no obvious pathological changes in the ovaries and uteri of the treatment groups. conclusion: 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg of methanol extract of the leaf of a. indica does not have any obvious effect on the histo-morphologies of the ovary and uterus, but showed significant changes in the serum levels of lh and ph of female wistar rat, implying that the effect of the extract may have been at a level other than these organs of study.