Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 14(9): September 2021 4630 ISSN 0974-3618 (Print) www.rjptonline.org 0974-360X (Online) RESEARCH ARTICLE Effects of Virgin coconut oil on Testicular toxicity induced by Cadmium in rats Sanjana Basavanahally Lokesh 1 , Rekha D Kini 2 , Nayanatara Arunkumar 2 , Sneha Shetty B 2 , Anupama N 2 , Bhagyalakshmi K 2 1 III MBBS Student, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. 2 Department of Physiology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. *Corresponding Author E-mail: rekha.kini@manipal.edu ABSTRACT: One of major threat to the environmental pollution is the contamination the by various heavy metals. Cadmium is found to have toxic effects on testis. VCO is increasingly getting the reputation of being the most versatile and healthiest antioxidant. Objective: To study the effect pre-treatment of virgin coconut oil in cadmium induced testicular toxicity in rats. Materials and methods: Institutional ethics committee clearance was obtained before beginning the experiments. Male rats of wistar strain approximately 150-200 gm body weight was used. They were housed in the central animal house under controlled conditions of temperature and light with normal rat feed and drinking water. Animals were divided into four groups with 6 rats in each group. Sperm count and sperm morphology was done. One of the testis was used for histopathological study. The data was expressed as mean  SD. Significance of the test was set at p<0.05. Results: In the present study administration of cadmium chloride showed a significant decrease in the testicular and epididymal weight as well as sperm count and testosterone level and increase in sperm shape abnormality. Pre-treatment with Virgin coconut oil showed a significant increase in the testicular and epidydimal weight as well as sperm count and testosterone level and decrease in sperm shape abnormality Testicular section in normal control rats and Virgin treated rats showed normal features. But, in cadmium treated rats the testis showed necrosis of most of the tubules but rats pre- treated with virgin coconut oil showed that less than 25 % of the tubules had necrosis. Conclusion: In conclusion, present study showed that Cadmium administration showed a damaging effect on the testis and Virgin coconut oil showed protective role in attuning cadmium induced testicular damage KEYWORDS: Testis, Virgin coconut oil, Sperm count, Testosterone. INTRODUCTION: One of major threat to the environmental pollution is the contamination of the atmosphere by various heavy metals. Cadmium is one such metal which is abundant in our surrounding since industrial age 12 . The main contributors of cadmium to the atmosphere are industrial and agricultural sources, cigarette smoke, lead smelting, nickel cadmium battery manufacturing and so on 3 . Received on 05.06.2020 Modified on 30.08.2020 Accepted on 15.10.2020 © RJPT All right reserved Research J. Pharm. and Tech. 2021; 14(9):4630-4634. DOI: 10.52711/0974-360X.2021.00804 Humans get exposed to cadmium either through industry or through diet 3 . The injurious effect of cadmium leads to various disorders like kidney and liver dysfunctions, bone diseases. reduced red blood cells toxic effects leading to alterations of the lipid profile, and testicular damage 4 . Cadmium is found to have toxic effects on testis. Many previous studied have reported that testicular toxicity of cadmium leads to male spermatogenic and steroidogenic impairment 4,5 Herbal medicines have been of tremendous interest since the beginning of human civilization for the treatment of all kinds of ailments 6 . Virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been used throughout the world for various health- related reasons and found to be beneficial. VCO is increasingly getting the reputation of being the most