Background: Androgen deficiency is a clinical syndrome resulting from the inability of the testes to produce\nphysiological levels of testosterone due to a disturbance occurring at one or more levels of the hypothalamicpituitary-\ntesticular axis. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the androgenic properties of aqueous and\nmethanolic extracts of Ficus asperifolia on normal and castrated immature rats.\nMethods: Normal rats were treated either per os with aqueous or methanolic extract of Ficus asperifolia (100 mg/kg\nor 500 mg/kg b.w.), distilled water (10 ml/kg b.w.), 5% Tween 80 (10 ml/kg b.w.) or subcutaneously with\ntestosterone propionate (0.5 mg/kg b.w.). Castrated rats were treated with plant extracts (100 mg/kg b.w. or\n500 mg/kg b.w.) alone or with the co-administration of plant extracts and testosterone propionate (s.c., 0.5 mg/kg\nb.w.) or bicalutamide (2 mg/kg b.w. per os). Animals were treated once a day during four weeks. Body weight\ngrowth and relative sexual organ weights were recorded at the end of each treatment. Some biomedical\nparameters were measured in the plasma (proteins, cholesterol), testes (cholesterol) and epididymis (proteins).\nResults: In normal rats, Ficus asperifolia significantly (p < 0.05) increased the relative weights of the testes and all\nsexual-dependent organs whereas total testicular cholesterol concentration was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased. In\ncastrated groups, treatment with Ficus asperifolia was followed by an increase in the sexual organ weights, epididymal\nprotein and prostatic acid phosphatase concentrations. The co-administration of testosterone and plant extracts\nsignificantly (p < 0.05) increased the weight of accessory sexual organs and epididymal protein contents. In the\npresence of bicalutamide (an anti-androgen), the sexual stimulating activity of Ficus asperifolia was diminished with\nremarkable effects on vas deferens weight (p < 0.05), plasma (p < 0.01) and epididymal (p < 0.05) protein contents.\nConclusion: Ficus asperifolia possesses androgen-like activity through possible stimulation of cytoplasmic and/or\nnuclear receptors by the bioactive compounds found in its extracts.
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