ABSTRACT

Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH) which constitutes a global challenge is a major cause of mortality amongst adult males of age 40 years and above. It is mainly characterized by increase in the number of epithelial and stromal cell in the periurethral area of the prostate and its etiology is a combination of several factors. This study is aimed at investigating the efficacy of ethanol leaves extract of Moringa oleifera (lam) (ELMO) and haemolymph in the management of BPH in experimental animal models. One hundred and thirty adult male rats were assigned to 13 groups of 10 rats each and treated 9mg/kg body weight of Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and 0.9mg/kg body weight Estradiol valerate (ESV) every other day for 28days to induce BPH. Groups 1 - 6 were controls, while the tests groups 7 – 11 were preventative treatments and groups 12 and 13 were curative treatments. Treatments involved administering ELMO, its fractions and haemolymph on animals induced with BPH using DHT/ESV. Body, prostate, liver and kidney weights were determined. Lipid profile, hormone profile, haematological, biochemical and antioxidant parameters were determined using standard methods and histology of the prostate, testes and epididymis were studied. Results show that induction of BPH significantly reduced (P<0.05) the overall body weight of the animals (25.99±5.34%- 12.51±6.79%), whereas prostate weight increased significantly P<0.05. ELMO in our study has haemotopoietic potential as it significantly (P<0.05) increased haemoglobin level (15.16±0.11) in group 5. All the treatments significantly increased (P<0.05) cholesterol and high density lipoprotein lipid but also significantly reduced (P<0.05) triacylglyceride and low density lipoprotein, an important factor in countering risk of coronary heart disease. Our extracts significantly increased (P<0.05) serum antioxidant profile of the experimental animals. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) which is a marker of BPH was significantly decreased (P<0.05) in the treatment groups (group 7- 13) indicating that our extracts may improve PSA test result in BPH patients. Moringa oleifera extract showed an anti-hyperplastic effect on the prostate and epididymis. Finding shows that ELMO, its fractions and haemolymph are good sources in the management of androgen induced BPH through improving serum antioxidant properties of the experimental animals and attenuating DHT/ESV induced lipid peroxidation. The extracts contain healthful phytochemicals with antioxidant and anti-androgenic, antianaemic, hypocholestrolemic, cardio-protecetive, antidiabetic activities beneficial in the management of diseases related to oxidative stress including BPH. Moringa oleifera leaves extract and haemolymph play a role in the management of BPH through the regulation of sex hormones, lipid profile complications and stabilization of antioxidant status in BPH induced experimental animals. In conclusion, future research will focus on studying the potentials of the extracts in the management of BPH in a long-term to see any debilitating effect that may arise as a result of its uses, isolating bioactive compound in its pure form and investigate their effect and properly elucidating the actual mechanism of activity of identified bioactive elements in the management of BPH.