Abstract

APHRODISIAC PROPERTIES OF ACRIDOCARPUS CONGOLENSIS (MALPIGHIACEAE) STEM BARK IN MALE WISTAR RATS

Ntondele Luzolo M.* and Cimanga Kanyanga R.

ABSTRACT

The evaluation of aphrodisiac activity of Acridocarpus congolensis aqueous stem bark extract revealed that mount intromission and ejaculation frequencies, copulatory efficiency, number of intromission, penile trusting, spontaneous penile erection, number of sperms and its mobility, and serum testostoreme, significantly increased in dose-dependent manner compared to negative control. In addition, it was also observed that other behavioral parameters such as mount frequency knew increase, intromission frequency, ejaculation latency, mount latency and inter-intromission interval knew significant decrease in dose dependent manner when this extract was administered at oral doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight compred to negative control. It showed also good increase in potency parameters such as erection, quick flip, king flip and total reflexe. There was not significant difference in sperm count, mobility, viability and morphology. All these effects clearly demonstrated that A. congolensis extract stem bark possessed interesting aphrodisiac property. The highest oral dose of 200 mg/kg body weight produced pronounced effects than 100 mg/kg body weight. In acute and subacute toxicity, the extract was found to be non-toxic since its lethal dose 50 (LD50) was estimated to be greater than 5000 mg/kg body veight. These reported results can support and justify the use of aqueous extract of A. congolensis stem bark as a natural aphrodisiac agent in traditional medicine in Democratic Republic of Congo and in other African countries where it knew the same medical purpose.

Keywords: Acridocarpus congolensis, stem bark, aphrodisiac, erectile dysfunction.