CORRECTED PROOF Please cite this article in press as: Yakubu, M.T., et al., Androgenic potentials of aqueous extract of Massularia acuminata (G. Don) Bullock ex Hoyl. stem in male Wistar rats, J Ethnopharmacol (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.05.020 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model JEP 5091 1–6 Journal of Ethnopharmacology xxx (2008) xxx–xxx 1 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Ethnopharmacology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharm Androgenic potentials of aqueous extract of Massularia acuminata (G. Don) Bullock ex Hoyl. stem in male Wistar rats 1 2 Musa Toyin Yakubu ∗ , Musbau Adewumi Akanji, Adenike Temidayo Oladiji, Ayoade Abdulfatai Adesokan 3 4 Medicinal Plants Research Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, PMB 1515, Ilorin, Nigeria 5 6 article info 7 8 Article history: 9 Received 16 October 2007 10 Received in revised form 4 February 2008 11 Accepted 21 May 2008 12 Available online xxx 13 14 Keywords: 15 Massularia acuminata stem 16 Phytochemicals 17 Androgenic potentials 18 Aphrodisiac 19 Chewing stick 20 Antimicrobial activity 21 Testicular function 22 Sexual maturation 23 abstract The use of medicinal plants in the management of several ailments is gaining popularity nowadays. Mas- Q1 sularia acuminata, one of such plants is commonly used as chewing sticks due to its antimicrobial activity and the aqueous extract of its stem as an aphrodisiac. Aphrodisiac activity in some plants may be due to androgen increasing property of its phytochemicals. This study therefore sought to assess the androgenic potentials of aqueous extract of Massularia acuminata stem in male rats for 21 days. Male rats weighing between 220 and 260 g were completely randomized into four groups: A, B, C and D. Group A, the control received orally 1ml of distilled water (the vehicle) while groups B, C and D were orally administered with 1 ml each corresponding to 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg body weight of the plant extract, respectively for 21 days. Rats were sacrificed 24h after 1, 7 and 21 days. Compared with the control, extract admin- istration at all the doses produced significant increases (P < 0.05) in testes–body weight ratio, testicular protein, glycogen, sialic acid, cholesterol, testosterone, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hor- mone concentrations throughout the period of administration. Testicular gamma glutamyl transferase activities decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after the first dose and sustained throughout the experimental period. The available evidence in this study suggests that aqueous extract of Massularia acuminata stem has androgenic potential which may stimulate male sexual maturation and enhance the normal testicular function. © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 24 The use of medicinal plants in the management of various ill- 25 nesses is due to their phytochemical constituents and dates back 26 to antiquity (Yakubu et al., 2007a). It is estimated that there are 27 250,000–500,000 species of plant on earth, about 1–10% of these 28 are used as food by both humans and other species while high per- 29 centage of them are used for medicinal purposes (Jethro, 1999). 30 Plants have provided a source of inspiration for novel drug com- 31 pounds and plant medicines have made large contributions to 32 human health and well being. The use of herbs is very common 33 in developing countries, particularly in rural settings. However, 34 during the last decade, an increase in the use of plants has been 35 observed in metropolitan areas of developed countries (Harnack et 36 al., 2001). Plants are extensively used to manage sexual dysfunction 37 (Adimoelja, 2000; Yakubu et al., 2007a). One of such plants claimed 38 to have aphrodisiac potentials is Massularia acuminata (Gill, 1992). 39 ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +234 8033578658. E-mail addresses: tomuyak@yahoo.com, tomuyak@gmail.com (M.T. Yakubu). Massularia acuminata (G. Don) Bullock ex Hoyl. (Rubiaceae) 40 known as pako ijebu or orin ijebu (Yoruba) is a small tropical plant 41 found undergrowth of closed moist forest. It is a tree, growing up to 42 5m high and is distributed from Sierria Leone through Zaire to Nige- 43 ria. The large leaves are practically stalkless, elliptic, acuminata and 44 almost glaborious. The flower which is 5cm long, narrowly ovoid 45 beaked, torne in short auxillary lymes seen in January of evey year. 46 The juice from the fruits is used as eye drops in Sierra Leone (Gill, 47 1992). The stem is used as chewing stick for oral hygeine in South- 48 ern Nigeria (Ndukwe et al., 2004). The stem is also claimed to be 49 used as an aphrodisiac and anticarcinogenic by making a decoction 50 or an infusion (Gill, 1992). Phytochemical screening of the aqueous 51 extract of Massularia acuminata stem revealed the presence of alka- 52 loids (0.22%), saponins (1.18%), anthraquinones (0.048%), flavonoids 53 (0.032%), tannins (0.75%) and phenolics (0.066%). Several stud- 54 ies (Rotimi and Mosadomi, 1987; Rotimi et al., 1988; Aderinokun 55 et al., 1999) have shown that Massularia acuminata stem at con- 56 centrations less than 10% is capable of inhibiting the growth of 57 Bacteriodes gingivalis, Bacteriodes assacharolyticus and Bacteriodes 58 melaninogenicus. They have also shown that the alkaloidal content 59 of the plant extract have anti-inflammatory activity and is effective 60 in treating gingivitis and periodontitis. 61 0378-8741/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2008.05.020