The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effect of fluted pumpkin seeds (FPS) against caffeine (CAFF) induced testicular toxicity in rats. Thirty young healthy male Wistar rats (196 ± 12 g) were randomly organized into five sets of six animals per each group: control, caffeine (CAFF; 50 mg kg À1 bw) and FPS co-treatment groups (CAFF + 50 mg FPS, CAFF + 100 mg FPS and CAFF + 200 mg FPS kg À1 bw). CAFF and FPS were administered daily and twice per week respectively by oral gavage for 40 days. CAFF treatment decreased testicular lactate dehydrogenase enzyme activity level, which was attenuated on co-administration with FPS at 50 and 100 mg kg À1 bw. Furthermore, CAFF decreased seminiferous epithelia thickness and spermatogenesis score index and increased the number of tubules with abnormal histological features, which were attenuated on co-administration with FPS at 50 mg kg À1 bw much more than at the higher doses (p < 0.05). CAFF did not affect malondialdehyde and glutathione concentrations and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in the testes whereas FPS co-treatment at the higher doses elevated glutathione level and GSH-Px activity and did not affect spermatogenesis score index at the highest dose (200 mg kg À1 bw). Testicular malondialdehyde concentrations remained unaffected in all FPS co-treatment groups. Overall, FPS is able to minimize the CAFF-induced testicular injury at lower than at the higher tested doses.caffeine, fluted pumpkin seeds, histology, spermatogenesis, testis
| INTRODUCTIONCaffeine (CAFF: 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is a naturally occurring purine-like alkaloid that is present in coffee, tea, cocoa bean and kola nuts. It is one of the most highly consumed psycho-stimulant in food supplements, beverages, energy drinks and some synthetic drugs (Akomolafe et al., 2019;Temple et al., 2017). It stimulates the central nervous system, which results in mental alertness and reduced drowsiness, loosening of smooth muscles and induction of heart rate. At higher doses, CAFF causes insomnia, tremors, increases nervousness and testicular injury in rats (