ORIGINAL ARTICLE Typha capensis (Rohrb.)N.E.Br. (bulrush) extract scavenges free radicals, inhibits collagenase activity and affects human sperm motility and mitochondrial membrane potential in vitro: a pilot study R. Henkel 1 , W. Fransman 1 , U.-C. Hipler 2 , C. Wiegand 2 , G. Schreiber 2 , R. Menkveld 3 , F. Weitz 4 & D. Fisher 1 1 Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa; 2 Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Jena, Jena, Germany; 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Tygerberg Academic Hospital, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa; 4 Department of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa Introduction Infertility affects about 15–20% of all couples at repro- ductive age, where the male contribution to this problem ranges from 30% to 50% (Hull et al., 1985; Bruckert, 1991; Weidner et al. 1999). A major problem is that rational treatment regimes for male infertility are available for few defined conditions with clear pathophysiological concepts like infections or secondary hypogonadism. Other treatment options are rather ineffective, have vari- able success rates or are just empirical (Greenberg et al., 1978; Kamischke & Nieschlag, 1999). Considering the cost involved in, sometimes long-lasting, infertility treat- ments including assisted reproduction, quite a substantive number of about 30% of the patients are turning to com- plementary or alternative medicine (Stankiewicz et al., 2007; Smith et al., 2010) as these methods are perceived being cheaper, safer and more effective (Vincent & Furnham, 1996). For alternative or complementary medicine, however, only a relatively small number of studies are published, mostly coming from China, India or Japan. Amongst these, more than 450 clinical trials are published investi- gating the efficacy of Chinese medicine on ailments like asthma, cancer or diabetes mellitus (Yuan & Lin, 2000; Pach et al., 2002). On the other hand, the number of studies investigating the effect of plants or their extracts on male fertility potential is even much less (50–60), with Keywords African traditional medicine—mitochondrial membrane potential—reactive oxygen species—sperm motility—Typha capensis Correspondence Prof. Ralf Henkel, Department of Medical Biosciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa. Tel.: +27-21-9592332; Fax: +27-21-9593125; E-mail: rhenkel@uwc.ac.za Accepted: March 2, 2011 doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0272.2011.01179.x Summary The biodiversity in South Africa provides more than 30 000 higher plants, of which more than 3000 are used by traditional healers to treat diseases. Typha capensis (bulrush) is one of the medicinal plants used in South Africa to treat male fertility problems. Considering that South African traditional healers have been recognised by Law and the health benefits of T. capensis have not been sci- entifically investigated yet, this study aimed at investigating the in vitro effects of aqueous extracts from this plant on male reproductive functions. Both leaves and rhizomes of T. capensis were dried, infused with distilled water and freeze– dried. Motile sperm from 50 men were isolated by swim-up and incubated with 1 lg ml )1 aqueous extract of Typha rhizome for 1 h at 37 °C. Vitality, motility, sperm production of reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential were analysed in the test sample, a control and in the pellet from the swim-up. Results showed that the rhizome extract had significant (P < 0.0001) negative effects on all parameters. The extracts from the leaves and rhizomes revealed dose-dependent inhibitory activity for collagenase and free radical formation. No inhibitory activity for elastase was found. The inhibitory activity for collagenase might indicate possible anti-cancer effects. ª 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH Andrologia 2012, 44, 287–294 287