Search

This work was undertaken to evaluate the biological activity of the aqueous extract of the dry seeds of Aframomum daniellii seeds on the copulatory performance of rats with testicular deficiency.Hypogonadal adult male rats (30) were divided into 6 groups: group I received distilled water (10 ml/kg), group II received sildenafil citrate (5 mg/kg), group III received intramuscular injections of testosterone enanthate (3. 6 mg/kg), group IV, V, and VI received the aqueous extract of A. daniellii at the respective doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg/po/day for 14 days. The copulatory performance of the animals were assessed on days 1, 7 and 14 through the following copulation parameters: Mount, intromission, and ejaculation latency (ML, IL, and EL) and frequency (MF, IF and EF), average interval of copulation (AIC) and post-ejaculatory interval (PEI)). We noticed a significant decrease of ML (p < 0.05), IL (p < 0.01), EL (p < 0.001) and the increase of MF, IF and EF (p < 0.01) particularly at doses of 100 and 400 mg/kg when compared to group I and II. In addition, we noticed a significant increase of AIC from day 7 (p < 0.05) to day 14 (p < 0.001) at the same two doses while the PEI significantly decreased from the 1st (p < 0.01) to the 14th day (p < 0.001) when compared to group I and II. These findings demonstrated that A. daniellii aqueous extract of seeds enhanced pro-sexual potential and pro-sexual desire in male rats with testicular deficiency.

This work aimed to evaluate the effects of the aqueous extract of Vepris afzelii roots on a rat model of hypogonadism. Phytochemical screening and acute toxicity of the extract were performed using different procedures. Hypogonadism was induced orally in adult Wistar rats using cyproterone acetate (30 mg/kg) for ten days. Besides six normal rats (10 ml/kg of distilled water, normal control), 30 hypogonadal rats were subdivided into five groups of six animals each, receiving for 14 days: distilled water (10 ml/kg, hypogonadal control), testosterone (4 mg/kg/3days) and the extract of V. afzelii (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg). Sexual behavior, sperm parameters, testes function and structure were assessed. Compared to the normal controls, significant (p = 0.0000) increases in mount (24 ± 0.94 seconds vs. 1200 ± 00 seconds) and intromission (49.16 ± 10.85 seconds vs. 1200 ± 00 seconds) latencies, and post-ejaculatory interval (381.72 ± 37.55 seconds vs. 1200 ± 00 seconds) were observed in all groups receiving cyproterone acetate on day 0. Total inhibitions of mounts (63.50 ± 8.91 vs. 00 ± 00), intromissions (36.66 ± 3.51 vs. 00 ± 00) (p = 0.0000), ejaculations (2.83 ± 00 vs. 00 ± 00, p = 0.0002) frequencies and mean copulatory interval (627.30 ± 81.80 vs. 00 ± 00, p = 0.0000) were also observed in these groups. Moreover, decreases in daily sperm production (2.65 ± 0.19 vs. 1.17 ± 0.08, p = 0.0498), percentage of sperm mobility (78.64 ± 8.41 vs. 10.12 ± 2.32), serum testosterone level (8.39 ± 0.63 ng/dl vs. 1.68 ± 0.19 ng/dl), diameter of seminiferous tubules (111.97 ± 0.51 µm vs. 94.51 ± 0.57 µm) and height of germinal epithelium (46.58 ± 0.34 µm vs. 33.74 ± 0.66 µm) (p = 0.0000) associated with increases in sperm transit (3.13 ± 0.45 vs. 11.07 ± 1.45, p = 0.0000) were also observed in these groups. Interestingly, compared to hypogonadal control and day 0, the administration of V. afzelii extract induced significant (p = 0.0000) improvements in all these altered parameters with 400 mg/kg being the most active dose. These results, attributed to saponins, flavonoids, polyphenols and triterpenes detected in this plant's extract confirm its traditional usage and could be useful for the management of patients suffering from hypogonadism., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)