Effect of testosterone replacement therapy on quantitative spermatogenesis following plumbagin treatment in immature rats.

Plumbagin (2-methyl, 5-hydroxy 1,4 naphthoquinone) was isolated from the root of Plumbago zeylenica L. It caused a decrease in the total number of spermatids, resting and pachytene spermatocytes as well as a significant reduction in seminiferous tubule and Leydig cell nuclei diameter, when given to immature rats at the rate of 1 mg/100 g body wt., orally/day for 32 days. Subsequently testosterone injections were given in low and high doses (0.5 mg and 1 mg/100 g body wt., im/day) on day-26 through day-32 to know whether such changes in quantitative spermatogenesis are produced as a result of the direct effect of plumbagin on the testis or through the inhibition of pituitary gonadotropin release.