Effects of the sap of the common oleander Nerium indicum (Apocyanaceae) on male fertility and spermatogenesis in the oriental tobacco budworm Helicoverpa assulta (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae).

We investigated the effects of sap of the common oleander Nerium indicum (Apocyanaceae) on male fertility and spermatogenesis in the oriental tobacco budworm Helicoverpa assulta. We found that continuous feeding of oleander sap during the larval period significantly affects fertility in males but not in females. This effect was also induced by direct injection of oleander sap into the hemocoel of 2-day-old pupae. Histological analyses of developing testes following oleander injection revealed a developmental delay and progressively more severe morphological abnormalities in the later stages of development. The effects of oleander sap on spermatogenesis in H. assulta were associated with greatly reduced levels of the two major polyamines, spermidine and spermine, in testis compared with saline-injected controls. In contrast, levels of putrescine, which is a precursor of both spermidine and spermine, and the activities of the enzymes ornithine decarboxylase and arginine decarboxylase, which are involved in the biosynthesis of putrescine, were initially elevated following oleander injection, but subsequently failed to undergo the induction that normally occurs during late pupal development. The effects of oleander sap on spermidine and spermine levels could be the result of direct inhibition by chemical constituents of the oleander sap of one of the enzymes used in common in the conversions of putrescine to spermidine and spermidine to spermine; alternatively, these effects on polyamine metabolism could be secondary to the disruption of a more fundamental process in the developmental program guiding spermatogenesis in H. assulta.