Effect of Long Term Administration of Citrullus Lanatus on Fertility Hormones of Male sand Female Albino Rats. Chike and Oputah

This study was done to highlight the diverse benefits of Citrullus lanatus (egusi melon) seeds with the principal focus on its highly nutritive and calorific values. This makes Citrullus lanatus necessary in diet and in the fight against malnutrition. It also indicated the effect of Citrullus lanatus on Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing hormone (LH) and Testosterone which are responsible for ensuring preparation for and maintaining of reproductive fertility. A total number of forty wistar rats, 30 males and 10 females were used for the study. They were fully acclimatized for two weeks and grouped into the control group (group I) and the test group (group II) which was further subdivided into three: starved, normal feed and egusi supplement administered groups. Test animals were sacrificed and blood samples collected for hormone analysis. The result showed that malnourishment induced through starvation increased FSH and LH levels and lowered testosterone concentration in both male and female wistar rats. The egusi supplement had more effect on FSH and LH levels for the female rats while it had more effect on testosterone levels for the male rats. This is because FSH and LH are primarily female fertility hormones while testosterone plays a greater role in males. Steady effects were observed for FSH and testosterone levels for the male and female wistar rats respectively while that of LH had alternating effect. Based on the result, further work is therefore recommended be done to shed more light in the details of mechanism of action of egusi supplement on male and female fertility hormones.