34.aphrodisiac properties of allium tuberosum seeds extract

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Journal of Ethnopharmacology 122 (2009) 579582

Contents lists available atScienceDirect

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / j e t h p h a r m

Ethnopharmacological communication

Aphrodisiac properties ofAllium tuberosumseeds extract

Hu Guohua a,, Lu Yanhua b, Mao Rengang a, Wei Dongzhi b, Ma Zhengzhi a, Zhang Hua a

a College of Life and Environment Science, Shanghai Normal University, Guilin Road 100#, Shanghai 200234, PR Chinab State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology, Meilong Road 130#, Shanghai 200237, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 4 October 2008

Received in revised form 8 December 2008

Accepted 15 January 2009Available online 7 February 2009

Keywords:

Allium tuberosum

Seed

Herbal medicine

Aphrodisiac

Sexual behavior

a b s t r a c t

Aim of the study: In the present study, we examined the effect ofAllium tuberosum seeds extract upon the

expressionof male rat sexual behavior, in order to know whetherAllium tuberosum seeds extract possess

aphrodisiac property.

Materialsand methods: Theaphrodisiacactivity ofAllium tuberosum seeds n-BuOHextractwas investigated

in male rats. The extract (500 mg/kg body weight/day) and L-dopa (100 mg/kg body weight/day) were

administered orally by gavages for 40 days. Mount latency (ML), intromission latency (IL), ejaculation

latency (EL),mounting frequency (MF), intromission frequency (IF), ejaculation frequency (EF) and post-

ejaculatory interval (PEI) were the parameters observed before and during the sexual behavior study at

day 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40.

Results:Then-BuOH extract reduced significantly ML, IL, EL and PEI (p< 0.05). The extract also increased

significantly MF, IF and EF (p< 0.05). These effects were observed in sexually active and inactive male

rats.

Conclusions: Present findings provide experimental evidence that the n-BuOH extract preparation of

Allium tuberosumseeds possesses aphrodisiac property.

2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Since ancient time, many Alliumspecies, such as onion, garlic,

leek, and chives, have been used as foods, spices, and herbal reme-

dies in widespread areas of the world, especially in the northern

hemisphere. It is well known that the Allium genus, with about

500 species, is a rich source of steroidal saponins, alkaloids, as

well as sulfur-containing compounds (Hostettmann and Marston,

1995). The scientific name of Chinese chive is Allium tuberosum

Rottl. ex Spreng (Chinese chive, Liliaceae). Chinese chive is one of

the daily edible green vegetables for Chinese. Allium tuberosumis

distributed all over mainland China and used not only as food but

also as medicine. Chinese chive is widely cultivated in China, whose

seeds have been reputedly used as a traditional Chinese medicine

for treating both impotence and nocturnal emissions (JiangsuNew Medicinal College, 1979). With regard to the constituents

of the Allium tuberosum seeds, many new and known steroidal

saponions, alkaloids and amides have been reported from the

seeds (Sang et al., 1999a,b, 2000a,b,c, 2001a,b, 2002, 2003; Zou et

al., 2001).In order to clarify its bioactive compounds, the chemical

constituents of the seeds ofAllium tuberosum were analyzed and

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 64322933; fax: +86 21 64322142.

E-mail address: [email protected](H. Guohua).

studied at our research systematically. We reported the fatty

acid compositions of the oil of ten kinds of Allium tuberosum

seed (Guohua Hu et al., 2005). We also reported the chemical

compositions ofAllium tuberosumseed (Guohua Hu et al., 2006a,b,

2009).However, no experimental investigations have been carried

out on the diverse pharmacological properties of this traditional

remedy.

There are numerous reports of aphrodisiac activity attributed

to plants (Emilia Nocerino et al., 2000; Islam et al., 1990;

Subramoniam et al., 1997; Noumi and Zollo, 1998; Bo Lin Zheng

et al., 2000; Gauthaman et al., 2002; Carro-Juareza et al., 2004;

Ramachandran et al., 2004). Allium tuberosum seeds have been

reputedly used as a traditional Chinese medicine for treating

both impotence and nocturnal emissions (Jiangsu New Medicinal

College, 1979).These claims are based largely on subjective opin-ion rather than scientific observation. In the present study, we

examined the effect of Allium tuberosum seeds extract upon the

expression of male rat sexual behavior, in order to evaluate

the possibility that this plant extract might possess aphrodisiac

property. Experimental investigations on the diverse pharmaco-

logical properties of this plant seed are being actively pursued

in our laboratory. The present study was aimed to search the

active constituents from Allium tuberosum for treating both

impotence and nocturnal emissions. The study evaluated the

effect of this plant seed n-BuOH extract on the male sexual

behavior.

0378-8741/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2009.01.018
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03788741http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharmmailto:[email protected]://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2009.01.018http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_6/dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2009.01.018mailto:[email protected]://www.elsevier.com/locate/jethpharmhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03788741


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H. Guohua et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 122 (2009) 579582 581

Table 1

Sexual behavior study ofAllium tuberosumseeds extract.

Group Sexual behavior

parameters

MeanS.E.M.

0 day 10th day 20th day 30th day 40th day

Active (Control) ML 65.16 5.15 62.32 4.95 66.87 5.12 65.28 4.00 63.29 5.36

IL 179.28 15.85 174.37 15.54 175.61 14.70 171.06 15.81 168.12 17.46

EL 8.16 0.70 7.93 0.65 8.19 0.48 7.43 0.39 8.03 0.35

MF 21.29 3.00 21.18 2.86 22.37 3.07 23.64 3.28 22.76 3.14

IF 7.50 1.65 7.32 1.47 7.3 1.28 7.81 1.75 7.70 1.98EF 2.74 0.33 2.82 0.41 2.91 0.45 2.70 0.53 3.01 0.67

PEI 8.44 0.68 8.15 0.67 8.18 0.59 8.29 0.56 7.92 0.72

Active (Allium tuberosumseeds

extract 500mg/kg body wt.)

ML 69.39 4.51 64.62 4.67 59.45 4.10 39.87 2.65* 32.34 1.89*

IL 167.21 15.28 155.67 16.27 146.31 17.21 101.73 8.69* 84.25 6.63*

EL 8.05 0.78 7.62 0.73 7.40 0.75 5.94 0.42* 4.12 0.37*

MF 29.56 2.90 32.02 3.20 39.55 2.60* 43.28 2.90* 52.71 4.10*

IF 15.20 1.68 15.30 1.89 15.50 1.82 16.9 1.56* 19.8 1.78*

EF 3.09 0.36 3.32 0.40 3.99 0.31* 4.05 0.35* 4.23 0.33*

PEI 7.81 0.59 7.30 0.63 7.15 0.61 5.61 0.35* 4.93 0.42*

Inactive (Allium tuberosumseeds

extract 500mg/kg body wt.)

ML 130.61 10.18 117.36 11.19 113.72 12.08 91.34 7.06* 76.66 7.38*

IL 298.09 28.14 268.98 29.31 237.46 26.36 185.49 15.45* 141.25 10.33*

EL 6.13 0.48 5.68 0.52 5.57 0.47 4.76 0.40* 4.10 0.39*

MF 19.85 1.91 19.82 1.95 22.96 1.81* 24.15 2.00* 25.68 1.97*

IF 8.22

0.78 8.65

0.80 11.57

0.89*

13.31

0.81*

15.57

1.28*

EF 2.61 0.34 3.14 0.45 3.22 0.53 4.39 0.42* 5.91 0.57*

PEI 9.25 0.40 9.18 0.41 8.74 0.36 7.52 0.32* 5.31 0.38*

Active (l-dopa 100 mg/kg body wt.) ML 64.58 5.61 54.73 6.60 52.31 6.01 35.38 3.58* 26.65 2.12*

IL 198.26 19.23 177.36 16.18 171.08 19.49 104.51 10.81* 75.86 6.53*

EL 7.21 0.50 7.02 0.48 6.00 0.32* 5.74 0.35* 3.96 0.29*

MF 21.36 1.50 23.20 1.79 23.97 1.56 29.48 1.41* 34.54 2.02*

IF 7.39 1.21 7.62 1.18 8.48 1.30 10.49 1.30* 12.32 1.58*

EF 2.46 0.29 2.48 0.26 2.56 0.28 3.22 0.31* 4.19 0.30*

PEI 5.72 0.40 5.65 0.45 4.27 0.35* 4.13 0.36* 4.02 0.32*

ML, mountlatency; IL, intromission latency; EL, ejaculationlatency; MF,mount frequency; IF, intromissionfrequency; EF, ejaculationfrequency;PEI, post-ejaculatory interval.* Significance level:p < 0.05.

control group or in the group of male and female rats treated at the

dose of 2 g/kg body weight ofn-BuOH extract.

4. Discussion

Present findings provide experimental evidence that the n-

BuOH extract preparation of Allium tuberosum seeds, used as a

traditional remedy, possesses aphrodisiac property. The present

study provides evidence that the extract ofAllium tuberosum is a

potent stimulator of sexual behavior, particularly of sexual arousal

in male rats, and that it promotes the expression of masculine sex-

ual behavior. It has been reported that EGb 761 (a standardized

extract of Ginkgo biloba leaves, especially at the dose of 50 mg/kg)

enhances the copulatory behavior of male rats and suggest that the

dopaminergic system, which regulates prolactin secretion, may be

involved in the facilitatory effect of EGb 761 ( Kuei-Ying Yeh et al.,2008).Generally sexual behavior is enhanced by elevated testos-

terone levels. Drug-induced changes in neurotransmitter levels or

their action in the cells could also change sexual behavior. The

brain area most associated with sexual behavior is the limbic sys-

tem. Research with various animal and human models indicates

a relationship between brain dopamine, 5HT and sexual behav-

ior (Ramachandran et al., 2004; Singh and Mukerjee, 1998).Both

dopamine and 5HT are implicated in depression. The relationship

of dopamine to human sexual behavior is supported by reports of

persexuality behavior induced by l-dopa in parkinsonian patients.

Stimulants and antidepressants are known to affect libido, erection,

ejaculation and orgasm.

Chinese men have always been interested in increasing virility

and sexual satisfaction to the extent of using any means possi-

ble, an aspect that has been well documented (Krishna Kaphle et

al., 2006). Allium tuberosum is widely cultivated in China, whose

seeds have been reputedly used as a traditional Chinese medicinefor treating both impotence and nocturnal emissions (Jiangsu New

Medicinal College, 1979). According to the dictionary of Chinese

drugs (Jiangsu New Medical College, 1986),the leaves have been

used for treatment of abdominal pain, diarrhea, hematemesis,

snakebite and asthma, while the seeds of this plant have been used

in Chinese traditional medicine as a tonic and aphrodisiac. Ancient

Chinese manuscripts arefull of recipes foraphrodisiacsand philters,

while in the modern era anything from rhino horn to mice testes

ends up as medicine (Krishna Kaphle et al., 2006). Aphrodisiacs

are substances that stimulate/increase sexual desire and perfor-

mance. Active investigations are in progress in our laboratory to

explore these possible mechanisms of action ofAllium tuberosum

seeds. The present investigation reveals the first time that the n-

BuOH extract ofAllium tuberosum seeds can enhance male sexualactivity in normal mice. There is a possibility of developing the

n-BuOHextractofAllium tuberosum seeds for stimulating male sex-

ual activity in cases where there are moderate sexual deficiencies.

With regard to the constituents of the Allium tuberosum seed n-

BuOH extract, about thirty new and known steroidal saponions,

nucleoside, alkaloids and amides have been reported (Sang et al.,

1999a,b, 2000c, 2001a,b, 2002, 2003; Zou et al., 2001; Guohua Hu

et al., 2006b, 2009).Among the constituents reported of theAllium

tuberosum seed n-BuOH extract,Steroidalsaponions andnucleoside

are the main constituents of the Allium tuberosum seeds n-BuOH

extract.

Further investigations are in progress to ascertain the mecha-

nism by which chemical constituents in Allium tuberosum seeds

n-BuOH extract exerts potent aphrodisiac activity in both sexually


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582 H. Guohua et al. / Journal of Ethnopharmacology 122 (2009) 579582

active and inactive males. The effect of the drug on female sexual

behavior and fertility remains to be studied.

5. Conclusion

Sexual behavior was studied in normal rats to further under-

stand the role ofAllium tuberosum seeds as an aphrodisiac. There

was an overall increase in the sexual behavior parameters in the

Allium tuberosumseeds n-BuOH extract treated groups of rats as

reflected in MF, IF and EF, and reduction in ML, IL, EL and PEI. These

results were statistically significant. It is concluded that Allium

tuberosum seeds n-BuOH extract appears to possess aphrodisiac

activity.

Acknowledgments

The work is supported by Shanghai Municipal Education Com-

mission. The authors are grateful for the assistance of Zhou Jiachun

and Zhuo zhixiang of the department of Food Science and Engi-

neering, EastChina Universityof Science and Technology,Shanghai,

China; Yang Xiaotong, Wu Shifu and Cao Tong of College of Life

and Environment Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai,

China.

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34.aphrodisiac properties of allium tuberosum seeds extract

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