The effects of eurycoma longifolia and polyathia bullata on enzyme CYP17A1 expression and androstenedione levels in male sprague-dawley rats

Eurycoma longifolia (Simaroubaceae family), famously known as "Tongkat Ali" in Malaysia, is a popular traditional remedy to improve male sexual libido, sexual dysfunction, power tonic and male idiopathic infertility. Polyalthia bullata (Annonaceae family), also known as "Tongkat Ali Hitam" by the local, is a plant that is known traditionally due to its aphrodisiac properties. This study is about the effects of both plants on the morphometric changes, enzyme CYP17A1 expression and the androstenedione level in healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats. 24 male rats were divided into control group, E. longifolia group, and P. bullata group with 8 rats in each group respectively. Both treatment groups were given dose of 800 mg/kg body weight of both plants that were orally administered daily for 14 days. The control group was given distilled water. The gene expression of enzyme CYP17A1 was carried out by Real-time PCR and the fold change value was calculated using the 2^-ddct method. The androstenedione level was determined by using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method using the blood serum from the rats. The morphometric study showed that P. bullata significantly (p<0.05) decreases the body weight of the rats, while the reproductive organs weight showed no significant difference between the groups. Androstenedione level of the rats showed a significant (p<0.05) decrease in group treated with P. bullata when compared to control group. Gene expression of CYP17A1 enzyme showed a trend ofupregulation up to 5-folds and 0.8-fold for E. longifolia and P. bullata treated group. However, this data is not significant (p>0.05). Therefore, the above study provides information on the effects of E. longifolia and P. bullata regarding the aphrodisiac properties of both plants based on the morphometric changes, enzyme CYP17A1 expression and androstenedione level.