The Old Made New: Natural Compounds against Erectile Dysfunction

Abstract

The interest toward sex-related diseases keeps growing through the years. In this review, we focus our attention on erectile dysfunction (ED), a condition that caught much attention especially after the introduction on the market of phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors such as the well-known sildenafil. Here, we briefly describe both the etiology of ED and the available treatments, examining then extensively some natural derivatives that, coming from traditional medicine, could represent promising starting points for the development of alternative remedies. In fact, herbal remedies from several parts of the world have been traditionally known for long, and were recently reconsidered and are now being studied to demonstrate their eventual potential in the treatment of ED. Among the various examples reported in the literature and reviewed here, plants and extracts containing polyphenols—especially a class of compounds called kraussianones—appear to be particularly effective and promising against ED.

Modulation of some markers of erectile dysfunction and malonaldehyde levels in isolated rat penile tissue with unripe and ripe plantain peels: identification of the constituents of the plants using HPLC

“…The result revealed that PDE-5 activity was inhibited by the extracts concentration dependently. This finding is in line with previous reports that medicinal plant extracts can inhibit PDE-5 activity, especially plants rich in flavonoids (Dell'Agli et al 2008;Shin et al 2015;Kotirum et al 2015;Pavan et al 2015). The PDE-5 inhibitory potentials of the studied peels could be linked to their rich flavonoid.…”

Innovative trends and perspectives for erectile dysfunction treatment: A systematic review

“…They emphasised the beneficial effect of these herbs over Western-style drugs for treating ED. Pavan et al (2015) [29] also concluded that plants and extracts containing polyphenols, especially a class of compounds called kraussianones, appear to be particularly effective and promising in the treatment of ED. Kotirum et al (2015) [30] reported on the efficacy of Tongkat Ali ( Eurycoma longifolia ) herbal extract on erectile function improvement.…”

A Perspective on Natural and Nature-Inspired Small Molecules Targeting Phosphodiesterase 9 (PDE9): Chances and Challenges against Neurodegeneration

“…Several plant extracts and, more specifically, their bioactive constituents were reported to possess neuroprotective action and to improve cognitive function against dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders [ 25 ]. The activity of natural compounds ameliorating AD conditions in preclinical or clinical studies is generally related to a multi-target mechanism of action [ 26 ], and inhibition of one or more PDE isoforms is often involved [ 8 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic compounds can in fact inhibit PDEs with different degrees of selectivity, as well as act as non-selective inhibitors [ 30 ].…”