Abstract:
Aim: To study the effect of Butea superba on erectile dysfunction (ED) in Thai males. Methods: A 3-month randomized double-blind clinical trial was carried out in volunteers with ED, aged 30- to 70 years, to evaluate the therapeutic effect of the crude preparation of Butea superba tubers on ED. Results: There was a significant upgrading in 4 of the 5 descriptive evaluations of the IIEF-5 questionnaire. Estimation of the sexual record indicated that 82.4 % of the patients exhibited noticeable improvement. Haematology and blood chemistry analysis revealed no apparent change. Conclusion: The plant preparation appears to improve the erectile function in ED patients without apparent toxicity.

Abstract:
Butea superba has been used to enhance sexual performance in men with unknown long term effects on spermatozoa. This study aimed to investigate effects of chronic treatment of B. superba on sperm motility and concentration in rats and mice in correlation with testicular damage. Adult male rats and mice were orally administered distilled water or B. superba alcoholic extract (0.01, 0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg BW/day) for 6 months. At the end of the treatment the animals were sacrificed and their spermatozoa recovered from the distal cauda epididymis were analyzed for sperm concentration and motility in vitro. The testes were processed for histological examination. The results show that long-term treatment with B. superba extract significantly increased the sperm concentration and delayed the decreased motility with time. None of signs of sperm anomalies and testicular damages were observed. This suggests that chronic use of B. superba increases the sperm motility in vitro while produces no changes on sperm morphology. Therefore, chronic use of B. superba alcoholic extract may be useful in fertilization.