Animal Studies on Fertility Enhancing Properties of Plants in Malaysia:A Review of the Past 17 Years

Abstract

Infertility is an issue of global and national public health concern. It is an alarming scenario with increasing number of prevalence in infertility. The importance of drugs of plant origin in the quest of fertility enhancing agents for the male from natural products has long been recognized. The present review is an attempt to summarize the local studies on fertility enhancing plants with emphasize to the part of plant have been used, type of extract prepared, animal model used and assessment parameters used. The literature covered is of 17 years from 1999 to 2016 for around 17 plants possessed promising findings in male fertility activity. Eurycoma longifolia, Phaleria macrocarpa, Nigella sativa, Chlorophytum borivilianum and Smilax myosotiflora were among the species had been studied. Various types of extraction were used including aqueous, methanol and other solvents. Most of the studies used rat as their animal model. The parameters for fertility assessment covered sperm quality, sexual organs weight, sex hormonal level and sexual behavior. In conclusion, this review will help other researchers in focusing on future herb based drug discovery in improving fertility problem among male across the globe.