Gynura procumbens leaf improves blood glucose level, restores fertility and libido of diabetic-induced male rats

Gynura procumbens (GP) has been widely used in traditional medicine due to its ability in treating various types of diseases. This study was carried out to determine the effects of GP on blood glucose level, fertility and libido of streptozotocin-induced male rats. A total of 42 male rats were randomly sorted into six groups; normal, negative and positive controls and three treated groups with different dosages of GP aqueous extract (GPAE); 150, 300 and 450 mg/kg. Each group was treated via oral feeding for 14 consecutive days. The rats were sacrificed on day 15 for further analysis. Administration of GPAE significantly lowered the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level and increased the plasma testosterone level of diabetic-induced rats compared to the positive and negative control groups. There was also a significant increase in the sperm quality as well as the fertility of GPAE treated groups compared to the negative and positive control groups. Sexual behaviour analysis demonstrated that GPAE is able to facilitate the expression of sexual behaviour significantly; increased mounting frequency and reduced mounting latency. These lines of evidence suggested that GPAE can act as antihyperglycaemic, profertility and libido agents. However, its mechanism(s) remains unresolved

Reversible spermatoxic effect of Andrographis paniculata methanol extract in sprague dawley rats

Andrographis paniculata is a herbal plant in the Acanthaceae family with potential to treat diabetes and cardiovascular and as an antifertility agent. The purpose of this study was to determine the reversible antifertility effect of methanol extract A. paniculata on sperm quality and spermatogenesis. A total of 28 male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned into two groups; control group (K1) and treated group (K2) with 14 rats in each group. The treated group was force-fed with a dose of 800 mg/kg for 14 days. On day 15, seven rats from each group were sacrificed. There was significant decrease (p<0.05) in sperm count, viability and sperm motility grade in K2 compared to K1, however, the percentage of normal sperm morphology in both groups showed no difference. Histologically, the lumens of seminiferous tubule were seen less packed with sperm and the Leydig cells were regressed. The damaged Sertoli cells were seen and spermatogenesis was also inhibited in K2. The study was proceeded for another 14 days without treatment to determine the reversible effect of the extract. On day 29, the remainder seven rats from each group were sacrificed for the same parameter analysis. Data showed the sperm count, viability and the sperm motility grade in K2 increased significantly (p<0.05). The testes histology showed that normal spermatogenesis, seminiferous tubule filled with sperm and normal Leydig and Sertoli cells. It appeared that the methanol extract of A. paniculata have an antifertility effect on sperm quality and possess spermatoxic feature in spermatogenesis activity and the effect was reversible

A Simple Technique for Rapid Assessment of Rat (Rattus norvegicus) Sperm Motility

Assesment of rat sperm motility can be carried out on sperm sample from epididimal source using minimal amount of equipment. This method will aid researcher and practitioner working in the field of sperm quality to determined rat sperm  motility rapidly and efficiently

Analisis Kualitas Sperma Tikus Percobaan (Jumlah, Motilitas, dan Morfologi)

Panduan yang ringkas namun bernas ini menjelaskan langkah demi langkah tahapan analisis kualitas sperma hewan percobaan (Rattus norvegicus) meliputi jumlah/bilangan, motilitas, dan morfologi sperma. Walaupun banyak manual tentang analisis kualitas sperma manusia, sangat sedikit literatur yang menjelaskan analisis kualitas sperma pada hewan percobaan secara terperinci. Selain memiliki arti penting dalam penelitian dasar biologi reproduksi, penelitian dengan menggunakan hewan percobaan harus selalu dilakukan untuk pemahaman awal kondisi pada manusia dan segala sesuatu yang mungkin diperlukan untuk mendukung hipotesis pada manusia, khususnya dibidang reproduksi. Buku ini diawali dengan pemahaman penggunaan hewan coba roden dalam penelitian dibidang reproduksi jantan, fisiologi sistem reproduksinya sampai pada teknik pemeriksaan/analisis kualitas sperma. Foto, gambar dan bagan digunakan secara luas untuk memudahkan pemahaman konsep dan cara analisis. Buku ini penting sebagai acuan atau rujukan bagi para mahasiswa, dosen dan peneliti di bidang biologi reproduksi khususnya analisis kualitas sperma. Buku ini akan memandu langkah-langkah analisis kualitas sperma hewan percobaan agar menghasilkan data yang valid dan akurat

Medicinal Plants: A Prospect in Developing Male Fertility Enhancing Agent

Medicinal plants have been a revolutionary breakthrough in the treatment of male sexual dysfunction. Traditional medicine based on a holistic philosophy is quite different with the practice of “western†medicine. Phytochemical substances focus their mechanisms of healing to the root of cause, i.e. the inability of controlling the proper function of the whole body system. Hence, medicinal plants manage sexual dysfunction and male fertility in the frame of sexual dysfunction as a whole entity. Some previous researches prove that the use of medicinal plants have a good impact in the treatment of a variety of male sexual problems. This paper will discuss several important aspects of aphrodisiac plants and preliminary study regarding them in Indonesia. Difficulties inherent to activity guided isolation and the specific requirements of bioassays are also discussed

Kesan Gynura procumbens terhadap integriti DNA dan kualiti sperma mencit

Masalah kesuburan disebabkan oleh faktor kelelakian semakin meningkat dan setakat ini belum ada rawatan yang berjaya menyelesaikan masalah ini. Gynura procumbens adalah antara herba yang dikatakan berpotensi merawat masalah ini. Pengambilan G. procumbens sebagai diet telah didapati meningkatkan bilangan dan motiliti sperma, namun kesan G. procumbens terhadap integriti DNA sperma masih tidak diketahui. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti kesan tindakan ekstrak G. procumbens terhadap integriti DNA dan kualiti sperma mencit jantan. Empat kumpulan mencit diberikan suapan paksa ekstrak G. procumbens (100, 200 dan 300 mg/mL) dan air suling selama 28 hari berturut-turut. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan ciri-ciri DNA nukleus sperma adalah normal dan nilai peratusan DNA utuh melebihi 92% pada semua kumpulan. Bilangan sperma bagi kesemua mencit yang menerima rawatan G. procumbens menunjukkan peningkatan yang signifikan (p<0.05) berbanding kawalan (8.14 ± 1.06) × 106 dan kumpulan 300 mg/mL menunjukkan bacaan bilangan sperma tertinggi (16.54 ± 3.2) × 106. Kumpulan kepekatan 300 mg/mL ini turut mencatatkan peratus jumlah pergerakan progresif sperma yang paling tinggi iaitu sebanyak 49.52% berbanding 27.7% bagi kumpulan kawalan serta menunjukkan peringkat perkembangan sel spermatogen yang lengkap dan teratur. Secara kesimpulannya, kajian ini mendapati bahawa ekstrak G. procumbens tidak merosakkan DNA sperma serta meningkatkan beberapa parameter kesuburan mencit jantan

Contraception : herbal and modern strategies

Population explosion is one of the global issues of concern. The increasing number of individuals could result in negative impact on social and economy. To overcome this problem, convenient and safe modern contraception was introduced. However, recently many researchers have conducted studies on the effectiveness of medicinal plants as contraceptive agents on human and animal models. Therefore, the studies of herbal and modern contraceptives were summarized in this review article. A total of 66 relevant articles were documented having information regarding the modern and herbal contraceptives. All contraceptives are highly effective provided they are used consistently and in the proper way. Contraception is important as it could prevent diseases and infections caused by sexual intercourse and prevent unintended pregnancy. Therefore, this review is an attempt to summarize the potential of medicinal plants as contraceptive agents and the modern contraceptive methods used as birth control in males and females

A Preliminary Study of the Influence of Social Media Engagement on Information Seeking Behavior among the Secondary School Students

The aim of conducting this research is to examine the influence of social media engagement on information-seeking behavior. There is lack of concern about generalizability and implementation towards emphasizing the effects of social media engagement on information-seeking behavior in Malaysia. A close-ended questionnaire was distributed to the students to conduct the data collection for this research. The data was collected from students and was analyzed using SPSS version 26. Findings show that two hypotheses were accepted; Novelty and Perceived Usability have a positive and significant relationship between information-seeking behavior, while Focus Attention and aesthetics were found insignificant for information-seeking behavior. Keywords: Social media, information-seeking behavior, Social media engagement,  aesthetic, education eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by E-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC  BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behavior Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioral Researchers on Asians), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behavior Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning &amp; Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Potensi anti-hiperglisemia Lunasia amara dan kesannya terhadap parameter kesuburan tikus jantan teraruh-diabetes

Lunasia amara telah digunakan dalam perubatan tradisi untuk merawat diabetes mellitus. L. amara dilaporkan mampu meningkatkan kesuburan tikus jantan normal pada dos 60 mg/kg berat tubuh. Kajian ini dijalankan untuk menentukan potensi ekstrak akuas batang L. amara sebagai agen anti-hiperglisemia dan keupayaannya mempertingkatkan parameter kesuburan tikus jantan teraruh-diabetes. Tikus teraruh-diabetes dibahagikan kepada enam kumpulan (n=5), masing-masing menerima perlakuan secara suap paksa ekstrak akuas L. amara (dos 60, 120, 250 dan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh), 500 mg/kg berat tubuh metformin dan air suling setiap hari selama tujuh hari. Manakala, kumpulan ke-tujuh merupakan kawalan normal (n=5) tanpa aruhan diabetes yang menerima perlakuan air suling (1 mL/tikus). Berdasarkan hasil kajian, dos anti-hiperglisemia yang berkesan iaitu 250 dan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh L. amara dipilih untuk melihat pengaruhnya ke atas kualiti sperma dan histologi testis tikus teraruh-diabetes. Hanya tikus teraruh-diabetes dengan perlakuan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh ekstrak L. amara digunakan untuk melihat taburan pengambilan 2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oksa-1,3-diazol-4-il)amino)-2-deoksiglukosa (2-NBDG) di dalam testis. Selepas 30 hari perlakuan, tikus teraruh-diabetes dengan perlakuan 250 dan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh L. amara didapati merencat kesemua parameter kesuburan jantan yang dikaji walaupun berkesan dalam menurunkan aras glukosa darah. Perlakuan dengan dos 500 mg/kg berat tubuh L. amara juga tidak berupaya menggalakkan pengambilan 2-NBDG ke dalam sel testis tikus teraruh-diabetes berbanding kumpulan kawalan. Ini menunjukkan mekanisme anti-hiperglisemia L. amara tidak melibatkan pembaikan fungsi insulin daripada segi pengambilan 2-NBDG ke dalam testis serta tidak mampu menyumbang kepada pembaikan parameter kesuburan tikus jantan teraruh-diabetes

Potensi Afrodisiak Lunasia amara ke atas tikus jantan teraruh diabetes

Diabetes melitus telah terbukti mengganggu penghasilan testosteron dan menyebabkan masalah libido dalam kalangan lelaki. Sehingga kini, tiada kajian mengenai potensi Lunasia amara dalam membaiki aktiviti seksual tikus jantan teraruh diabetes. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti potensi afrodisiak L. amara ke atas tikus jantan teraruh diabetes. Empat kumpulan tikus teraruh diabetes masing-masing diberi perlakuan ekstrak L. amara (250 dan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh), 500 mg/kg metformin dan air suling. Tikus kumpulan kawalan normal tanpa aruhan diabetes menerima perlakuan air suling. Perlakuan diberikan secara suap paksa selama 30 hari untuk melihat kesan L. amara ke atas status libido, aras testosteron serum, berat tubuh tikus, morfometri testis dan epididimis kauda serta aktiviti enzim antioksida testis tikus teraruh diabetes berbanding kawalan. Keputusan kajian menunjukkan berlaku penurunan libido, aras testosteron dan aktiviti khusus enzim antioksida (glutation peroksidase, katalase dan superoksida dismutase) testis tikus teraruh diabetes secara signifikan (p<0.05) pada kedua-dua dos tersebut berbanding kawalan normal. Sementara itu, perlakuan L. amara didapati tidak menjejaskan morfometri testis, epididimis kauda dan berat tubuh tikus yang menerima perlakuan L. amara berbanding kawalan normal. Kajian ini membuktikan bahawa ekstrak akuas batang L. amara pada dos 250 dan 500 mg/kg berat tubuh tidak berupaya memperbaiki aktiviti seksual tikus jantan teraruh diabetes