In vivo aphrodisiac efficacy of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of the leaf and root bark of Citropsis articulata in male Wistar rats

In vivo aphrodisiac efficacy of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of the leaf and root bark of Citropsis articulata in male Wistar rats | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article In vivo aphrodisiac efficacy of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of the leaf and root bark of Citropsis articulata in male Wistar rats Anyase Ronald Amaza, Treasure Angie Amutuhaire, Jonans Tusiimire, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4784543/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background The African cherry orange tree Citropsis articulata Swingle & Kellerman (family Rutaceae) is traditionally used to manage erectile dysfunction. This study aimed to determine the aphrodisiac activity of C. articulata leaves and root bark in male Wistar rats. Methods Aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of leaves and root bark were prepared via decoction and soxhlation, respectively. Extracts were administered to the animals at three dose levels, i.e., 100, 500 and 1000 mg/kg. Six male animals (aged 8–12 weeks, weighing 140–200 g) were used in each of the groups. Three animals per group (group B), unlike those immediately sacrificed at the end of 28 days (group A), were left for an extra 14 days without dosing to look out for delayed or sustained efficacy signs. Male sexual behavior, including attraction towards the female, penile erection, mount frequency, and mount latency, was monitored on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. At the end of both 28 days and the extra 14 days, the animals were humanely sacrificed via anesthesia with halothane, and their blood was collected for testosterone level analysis, while the sexual organs harvested were assessed grossly and histologically. Results Citropsis articulata root bark and leaves increased the attraction towards the female, penile erection, and mount frequency while lowering the mount latency. The plant extracts also increased testosterone levels after 28 days of daily extract administration but greatly lowered the testosterone levels in the animals that were left for an extra 14 days without dosing. Even histologically, there was the first evidence of very active spermatogenesis, which disappeared when the administration of the extract ceased. The administration of C. articulata leaf decoction at a dose of 500 mg/kg significantly increased the testosterone level (14.50 ± 2.53 ng/ml) compared with that of the positive control (4.00 ± 2.70 ng/ml), with a p-value of 0.021 (confidence interval: -19.45 to -1.533). Conclusion This study revealed that both the root bark and leaf of Citropsis articulata have aphrodisiac efficacy in male Wistar rats in vitro . Citropsis articulata aphrodisiac testosterone male sexual behaviour mount frequency Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4784543","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":337662182,"identity":"c86cf450-a140-4896-b01d-11038e2f30d6","order_by":0,"name":"Anyase Ronald 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frequency","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4784543/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4784543/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe African cherry orange tree \u003cem\u003eCitropsis articulata\u003c/em\u003e Swingle \u0026amp; Kellerman (family Rutaceae) is traditionally used to manage erectile dysfunction. This study aimed to determine the aphrodisiac activity of \u003cem\u003eC. articulata\u003c/em\u003e leaves and root bark in male Wistar rats.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of leaves and root bark were prepared via decoction and soxhlation, respectively. Extracts were administered to the animals at three dose levels, i.e., 100, 500 and 1000 mg/kg. Six male animals (aged 8\u0026ndash;12 weeks, weighing 140\u0026ndash;200 g) were used in each of the groups. Three animals per group (group B), unlike those immediately sacrificed at the end of 28 days (group A), were left for an extra 14 days without dosing to look out for delayed or sustained efficacy signs. Male sexual behavior, including attraction towards the female, penile erection, mount frequency, and mount latency, was monitored on days 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42. At the end of both 28 days and the extra 14 days, the animals were humanely sacrificed via anesthesia with halothane, and their blood was collected for testosterone level analysis, while the sexual organs harvested were assessed grossly and histologically.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cem\u003eCitropsis articulata\u003c/em\u003e root bark and leaves increased the attraction towards the female, penile erection, and mount frequency while lowering the mount latency. The plant extracts also increased testosterone levels after 28 days of daily extract administration but greatly lowered the testosterone levels in the animals that were left for an extra 14 days without dosing. Even histologically, there was the first evidence of very active spermatogenesis, which disappeared when the administration of the extract ceased. The administration of \u003cem\u003eC. articulata\u003c/em\u003e leaf decoction at a dose of 500 mg/kg significantly increased the testosterone level (14.50\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.53 ng/ml) compared with that of the positive control (4.00\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.70 ng/ml), with a p-value of 0.021 (confidence interval: -19.45 to -1.533).\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusion\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study revealed that both the root bark and leaf of \u003cem\u003eCitropsis articulata\u003c/em\u003e have aphrodisiac efficacy in male Wistar rats \u003cem\u003ein vitro\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"In vivo aphrodisiac efficacy of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of the leaf and root bark of Citropsis articulata in male Wistar rats","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-08-27 06:14:48","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4784543/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"8f75a684-dc5d-44b4-8447-47759985aced","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 27th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-09-10T13:27:42+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-08-27 06:14:48","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4784543","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4784543","identity":"rs-4784543","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}