Studies on herbal aphrodisiacs used in Arab system of medicine.

Toxicity studies were conducted on Brassica rapa, Prunus amygdalus and Zingiber officinale, used as aphrodisiacs in Arab Medicine. During acute toxicity test observations were made for 24 h where all these plants showed no toxicity. The animals were treated for 3 months in chronic treatment. External morphological changes, visceral toxicity, haematological changes, effects on average body weight, vital organ weight, sperm contents, sperm motility and sperm abnormalities were recorded. The average body weight increase was significant in B. rapa and P. amygdalus treated animals. Haematological studies revealed reduction in WBC level in these groups. These changes were not significant in Z. officinale treated animals. In all three groups the visceral condition was normal and the percent lethality was insignificant as compared to the control. All these plant extracts significantly increased the sperm motility and sperm contents in the epididymides and vas deferens without producing any spermatotoxic effect.