PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PRO-FERTILITY EVALUATIONS OF DRACAENA ARBOREA (WILLD) LINN. (DRACAENACEAE)

PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PRO-FERTILITY EVALUATIONS OF DRACAENA ARBOREA (WILLD) LINN. (DRACAENACEAE)

ABSTRACT

The plant Dracaena arborea (Willd) Linn is a member of the Dracaenaceae family. It grows abundantly in western Nigeria where its leaves are used as traditional herbal treatment for male infertility and as aphrodisiacs and also in the treatment of gonorrhoea, viral ailments like small pox, chicken pox, and measles, epilepsy and stomach troubles. This work was aimed at providing some pharmacognostic standards for the leaf of Dracaena arborea (Willd) and also to provide a scientific rationale for the traditional use of the plant in treatment of male infertility. Standard Pharmacognostic methods were used to conduct microscopic studies of the leaf and also biological activities of the leaves were evaluated. The physicochemical characters such as the ash values, extractive values, moisture content tannins content, swelling index, foaming index, microbial contaminants of the leaf of D. arborea were evaluated according to the methods in the WHO manual (1998). Acute toxicity studies was carried out using the method of Lorke (1983) and the Pro-fertility evaluations for sperm count, motility, viability and abnormal morphology of the methanol extract on male wistar rats was done according to the protocols of Saalu et al (2007) and WHO (1999).The leaf is amphistomatic with anomocytic stomata measuring 36.00 µm in length and 24.20 µm in width with no trichomes. The stomatal number was (10.40- 12.20-14.00) at the upper epidermis and (46.30-54.50-62.70) at the lower epidermis. The stomatal index was (7.80-9.20-10.60) at the lower epidermis and (1.30-1.50-1.70) at the upper epidermis. The palisade ratio was (5.60-6.60-7.60). The powdered leaves had a moisture content of 3.89 ± 0.61 %. The total ash, acid insoluble ash and water soluble ash values were 14.78 ± 0.61 %, 0.53 ± 0.23 %, and 11.22 ± 0.48 % respectively. The alcohol extractive value was 1.13 ± 0.35 % and water extractive value was 1.29 ± 0.13 %.The swelling index was 5.60 ± 0.13 ml and foaming index was less viii than 100(5000 mg/kg) after oral administration to adult male wistar rats. The sperm function analysis conducted with the extracts on adult male rats showed a significant (p<0.05) increase in sperm count after 28 days of treatment and an increase in sperm motility after 14 and 28 days of treatment. There was also a significant increase in sperm viability and there was no significant difference in sperm morphology as compared with the controls. This study has therefore been able to provide pharmacognostic standards for the leaf of D. arborea and that the leaves have pro-fertility activity in male wistar rats which suggests the scientific evidence for the traditional use of the leaves of the plant in the improvement of male fertility

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