A study of the aphrodisiac properties of Cordyceps militaris in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male rats

Vet World Vol.14 February-2021 Article-27

Research Article

Veterinary World, 14(2): 537-544

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2021.537-544

Toan Van Nguyen¹, Pramote Chumnanpuen^2,3, Kongphop Parunyakul², Krittika Srisuksai², and Wirasak Fungfuang^2,3

1. Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Biotechnology, Ho Chi Minh City Open University, Vietnam.
2. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
3. Omics Center for Agriculture, Bioresources, Food and Health, Kasetsart University (OmiKU), Bangkok, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Cordyceps militaris (CM) is a fungus that has been used to enhance aphrodisiac activity in men, but to date, no studies have focused on its antidiabetic properties. This study aimed to investigate the effects of CM on reproductive performance of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic male rats.

Materials and Methods: Six-week-old Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: control Group 1 consisting of healthy rats; Group 2, healthy rats treated with CM (100 mg/kg); Group 3, diabetic untreated rats; and Group 4, diabetic rats treated with CM (100 mg/kg). Rats were orally administered with vehicle or CM for 21 days. The body weight, blood glucose level, food intake, epididymal sperm parameter, sexual behavior, serum testosterone level, and antioxidant parameters were determined.

Results: The results indicated that CM treatment in STZ-induced diabetic rats significantly improved the epididymal sperm parameter and serum testosterone level and, in turn, their copulatory behavior. CM treatment in diabetic rats significantly ameliorated malondialdehyde level and significantly improved the glutathione and catalase levels.

Conclusion: These results provide new information on the pharmacological properties of CM in ameliorating testicular damage due to oxidative stress and improving sexual performance in diabetic male rats. Keywords: Cordyceps militaris, diabetes mellitus, sexual behavior, sperm, streptozotocin.

Keywords: Cordyceps militaris, diabetes mellitus, sexual behavior, sperm, streptozotocin.

How to cite this article: Nguyen TV, Chumnanpuen P, Parunyakul K, Srisuksai K, Fungfuang W (2021) A study of the aphrodisiac properties of Cordyceps militaris in streptozotocin-induced diabetic male rats, Veterinary World, 14(2):537-544.

Received: 16-10-2020 Accepted: 19-01-2021 Published online: 27-02-2021

Corresponding author: Wirasak Fungfuang E-mail: fsciwsf@ku.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.537-544

Copyright: Nguyen, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.