Abstract

Crude oil pollution of the environment occurs on a daily basis through different modes. This has become even more pronounced in the oil-mineral producing areas of the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effect of Bonny light crude oil on serum cholesterol and testosterone in Wistar albino rats, and to ascertain its possible endocrine disrupting effect on the reproductive hormone, testosterone. Eighty Wistar rats aged 15 to 17 weeks and weighing 193.6 to 220.0 g were used, and the experiment lasted for 28 days. The result showed that free testosterone was found to significantly decrease in all the groups among the male animals, except the control. However, a slight increase was observed in the female serum testosterone among the experimental groups. This increase was not significant (p>0.05). The result also showed that the cholesterol concentration in the males showed significant decrease (p<0.05), while in the females across the groups, significant increase in plasma cholesterol concentration were observed relative to the control group. We therefore suggest that Bonny light crude oil might have the potential to alter testosterone activity and may be a possible reproductive endocrine disruptor.

Key words: Testosterone, cholesterol, endocrine disruptors, fecundity, reproduction.