Activation of Rho-kinase 2 (ROCK-II) results in contraction of corpus cavernosum smooth muscle and ROCK-II inhibitors relax corpus cavernosum in vitro and in vivo hence, plant extracts capable of inhibiting ROCK-II enzyme may be useful in management of erectile dysfunction (ED). The aim of the study was to screen selected Indian medicinal plants, having similar ethnophar-macological use for ROCK-II inhibition. Methanolic and successive aqueous extracts of 30 plants were screened for ROCK-II inhibition and 15 herbal extracts showed inhibition ranging between 50 and 88% at 50 µg/mL. While IC50 of Y-27632, a standard ROCK-II inhibitor, was found to be 163.8 ± 1.2 nM.
The traditional use of plants like Butea frondosa, Syzygium aromaticum, Butea superba, Chlorophytum borivilianum and Mucuna pruriens, as aphrodisiacs and for male sexual disorder (MSD) might be in part due to the ROCK II inhibitory potential of these plants.
Sumanta Kumar Goswami, Manoj Kumar Pandre, Rohitash Jamwal, Shekhar Dethe, Amit Agarwal, Mohammed Naseeruddin Inamdar
Department of Pharmacology, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Near Lalbagh Main Gate, Bangalore-560027, India.
R&D center, Natural Remedies Private Limited, Veerasandra Industrial Area, Bangalore-560100, India.
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