Spathodea campanulata P. Beauvois (Bignoniaceae) is a tree from the tropical and subtropical forests of Africa, used in folk medicine for the treatment of several diseases such as gastric pain, rheumatism, lumbago, cataracts and some intestinal parasites. In West Cameroon, traditional healers use a decoction of the bark of the trunk as an aphrodisiac in males. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the aphrodisiac activity of the aqueous extract of the trunk barks of S. campanulata in male rats. The male rats were divided into five lots: A, B, C, D and E of six animals each. Lot A received 5 ml/kg of distilled water daily for 8 days (negative control). Lot B received 5 mg/kg of Sildenafil Citrate (Viagra®) daily for 8 days (positive control). Lots C, D and E received 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg, respectively of the aqueous extract of the trunk barks of S. campanulata daily for 8 days. On the first, fourth and eighth day of administration, the copulatory parameters were observed and recorded. The extract induced an increase in erectile function stimulation through the significant increase (p<0.001) in the number of erections, the frequency of mount and a decrease in mount latency, reflecting an increase in sexual stimulation; an increase in the frequency of intromission (p<0.001) and a decrease in intromission latency, reflecting a stimulation of sexual performance. There was also an increase in ejaculation frequency and ejaculation latency (p<0.001). These results indicate a pro-ejaculatory aphrodisiac potential of the aqueous extract of the trunk barks of S. campanulata in male rats and would justify the empirical use of this plant in the treatment of erectile dysfunction in humans, in traditional medicine.
In Cameroon, several plants are used both for their medicinal properties and as food. Many of them contain essential oils as one of their secondary metabolites. Although traditional healers rarely, if ever, use essential oils as the basis for their treatments, it is thought that the latter would be found in their products in view of the preparation processes used. And therefore several activities attributed to their drugs are linked to the presence of essential oils. Many studies have revealed the presence of essential oils in several plants found in Cameroon, and validated their traditional use. The purpose of this study is to identify these plants on the basis of studies carried out in order to make a review which will serve as support for future studies. This work reviewed available and accessible original articles in EBSCO, Ovid MEDLINE®, PubMed®, ScienceDirectTM, Scopus® and Web of ScienceTM databases on Cameroon plants studied for their essential oils. We have identified ninety plants that have been the subject of proven studies and scientific publication. They are mainly distributed in the families of Lamiaceae (14: 16%), Annonaceae (11: 12%), Rutaceae (10: 11%), Asteraceae (10 : 11%) and Myrtaceae (09 : 10%). We believe that an important work remains to be done in the search for new essential oils in Cameroon, because the country is endowed with a very great botanical diversity.
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