Male reproductive complications of diabetes mellitus and possible medicinal plant remedies: a review

Objective: Male reproductive dysfunction and subsequent infertility are major complications that are becoming increasingly associated with Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Due to frequent failure in treatment with orthodox antidiabetic drugs, there has been a massive shift of attention to alternative therapies. The antidiabetic potential of a large number of medicinal plants have been investigated both in-vitro and in experimental animal models. These specific plants were predominantly used because of the antioxidant capacity of their bioactive phytoconstituents. This review focuses on reproductive dysfunctions commonly suffered by male diabetic patients and medicinal plants that have been tested and reported for their roles in ameliorating such dysfunctions.Method: All original journal articles and reviews cited on PubMed between 2005 and 2015 in English language were considered for this review.Results and conclusion: This review reestablished the fact that male infertility is a common complication of poorly managed diabetes mellitus. It also highlighted the fact that the numerous challenges associated with the use of orthodox drugs in management of the disease makes medicinal plant therapy inevitable. However, the full potentials of these medicinal plants at correcting reproductive complications of the disease are still to be realized and more specific studies are required in this field for improved therapeutic outcomes.Keywords: Diabetes, Complications, Medicinal Plants, Erectile dysfunction, Remedie

Effect of Estrogen and Sodium Chloride on Fasting Blood Sugar and Weight-Gain in Female Diabetic Rats

The effect of estrogen and sodium chloride (NaCl) on fasting blood sugar and weight gain was investigated in female diabetic rats. Changes in serum sodium/potassium ratio on fasting blood sugar (FBS) was also investigated. Female wister rats with an average weight of 150gms were used for this study. 32 healthy rats were used for the control experiments. They were divided into 4 subgroups of 8 rats each which served as control, estrogen treated, NaCl treated, and combination of estrogen and NaCl treated. The remaining 32 rats were made diabetic by intraperitoneal injection of alloxan (100mg/kg body weight) and divided into 4 sub groups as in the healthy rats. FBS, body weights and serum sodium/potassium ratio were determined in all the animals. The study indicates that both estrogen and sodium chloride significantly (P<0.05) lowered FBS in the female diabetic rats. However, the reduction of FBS level in the healthy (non-diabetic) rats - was significant (P<0.001) - though not sustained throughout the study. Treatments of the rats by using a combination of estrogen with sodium chloride showed a significant (P<0.001) reduction of FBS level. However, this reduction was not more than observed by treatment with only estrogen. This means that the substances do not have a cumulative effect in both diabetic and healthy rats. There was however, no significant difference (P>0.05) in serum sodium/potassium ratio in all the subgroups. The result of the investigation also demonstrates that there is significant (P<0.05) retardation of the weight-gain due to estrogen while sodium chloride significantly enhanced weight-gain (P<0.001) in both healthy and diabetic female rats. It was therefore concluded that both estrogen and sodium chloride enhance glucose utilization

Effect of Increased Dietary Calcium on Body Weight, Food and Water Intake in Oral Contraceptive Treated Female Rats

The effects of high calcium diet on body weight in OC treated rats are unknown. This study therefore investigated the effect of increasing dietary calcium from 0.9% to 2.5% on body weight, food ingestion, water intake, heart weight index and renal weight index in female Sprague-Dawley rats treated with a combination of OC steroids (ethinyloestradiol + norgestrel). The rats were assigned into three groups of average of 11 rats each; control, OC-treated and OC + Calcium – treated groups and administered orally for 10 weeks. Food and water intake, body weight, cardiac weight index, left ventricular weight index, renal weight index and serum calcium level were determined. The result shows that OC treated rats had significantly lower serum calcium concentration, body weight gain, food, water and calcium intake than those of the control rats. The OC + Calcium – treated rat had significantly higher serum calcium concentration, food, water and calcium intake but significantly lower body weight than those of the OC – treated rats. OC + Calcium – treated rats had significantly higher water intake, calcium intake and significantly lower body weight and food intake when compared with the control rats. Cardiac weight index and renal weight index was comparable in all groups. In conclusion, combined OC-induced reduction in weight gain might be associated with inhibition of the feeding center and consequent inhibition of the thirst center. Co-administration of dietary calcium augmented the reduction in weight gain seen in OCtreated rats probably by further suppression of the feeding and thirst centers