Josephine O Ofeimun
,
Buniyamin A Ayinde
For correspondence:- Josephine Ofeimun Email: jofeimun@uniben.edu Tel: +2348064942568
Published: 31 December 2017
Citation: Ofeimun JO, Ayinde BA. Preliminary investigation of the aphrodisiac potential of the methanol extract and fractions of Rhaphiostylis beninensis Planch ex Benth (Icacinaceae) root on male rats. J Sci Pract Pharm 2017; 4(1):182-188 doi: 10.47227/jsppharm.v4i1.6
© 2017 The author(s).
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Purpose: The study investigated the claimed use of the root of Rhaphiostylis beninensis (Rb) as an aphrodisiac.
Methods: The methanol extract of the root of Rb as well as the chloroform and aqueous fractions were administered to male rats (100, 200, 400 mg/kg), which were mated with female animals that had been brought into oestrus by the sequential administration of 100 µg/animal of ethinyl oestradiol orally 48 h before and progesterone (1.0 mg/animal) subcutaneously, 6 h prior to mating. Tween 80 (5 %) and 50 mg/kg sildenafil served as the negative control and positive control respectively. Parameters determined were; mounting latency (ML), intromission latency (IL), ejaculation latency (EL), mounting frequency (MF), intromission frequency (IF), ejaculation frequency (EF), anogenital grooming (AG), genital sniffing (GS).
Results: The methanol extract and aqueous fraction were observed to show a dose dependent increase in MF, IF, EF, AG and GS, while a dose dependent decrease in ML, IL and EL was observed. The chloroform fraction showed the same pattern of dose dependent activity for all the parameters evaluated except for the IL, where the effect produced by 200 mg/kg was higher than that produced by 400 mg/kg dose.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence for theuse of the root of Rb in ethno-medicine as an aphrodisiac
