Gardenia aqualla, commonly referred to as Gaude in Hausa has long been utilized in the traditional medicine in Nigeria for the treatment of various ailments and is popularly claimed to improve and treat sexual disorders in men and women, respectively. Despite its extensive use as aphrodisiac in Nigeria, there is no scientific evidence to justify this claim. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the aphrodisiac potential of the plant’s root extract and fractions in male rats. The root was clean, shed dried and size reduced. It was cool macerated with methanol (70%) and partitioned with n- hexane and ethyl acetate respectively. LD₅₀ was carried out according to OECD guideline. The animals were randomly divided into four groups of five rats each. Group one (control) received 1 ml/kg distilled water while groups two, three and four received 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg of the methanol (70%) extract daily for 21 days, respectively. The same were done for hexane, ethyl acetate and residual aqueous fractions. The mating behaviour, libido and potency were determined and compared with control. The female rats that participated in mating were made receptive by hormonal treatment. Results showed that oral administration of the extract and fractions caused significant increase in the mounting frequency (MF), intromission frequency (IF), ejaculation latency (EL), Erections, quick flips, long flips as well as aggregate of penile reflexes (P < 0.05) and caused significant reduction in the mounting latency (ML), intromission latency (IL) and post ejaculatory interval (PEI) (P < 0.05). There was also a significant dose-dependent increase in serum testosterone, luteinizing hormones (LH) and follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) concentrations in all the groups (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the results of the studies indicated that the extracts of Gardenia aqualla root has aphrodisiac activities and this may support the claims for its traditional usage as aphrodisiac.

This research studied effects of chronoefficacy of alpha-lipoic acid/glimepiride/nifedipine therapy in attenuating oxidative stress and histological changes in pancreas of diabetic rats. A group of normal and another group of diabetic rats treated with distilled water 1 mL/kg respectively represented controls. All the rats in the other groups were positive for diabetes and all received 10 mg/kg glimepiride at night-time (2000h). The last four groups also received 20 mg/kg nifedipine at morning-time (0800h) while the last three groups also received additional 100 mg/kg alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) at circadian time of 0800h, 1400h and 2000h respectively. During the 28 days oral treatment, body weight was measured weekly. On the 29^th day, the rats were euthanized and the pancreas was excised and divided into two parts. Either part was preserved in phosphate buffer or formalin for antioxidant assay and histology respectively. There was a significant (p ˂ 0.01) increase in weekly weight in rats receiving night-time dosing of ALA. Malondialdehyde level for this group was significantly (p ˂ 0.01) lower than the diabetic group and other time points. Also, catalase and superoxide dismutase values were significantly (p ˂ 0.01) lower than that of the diabetic control. Furthermore, histological photomicrograph for this group showed features similar to the normal control. Time dependent alpha-lipoic acid as an adjunctive therapy in combination with glimepiride and nifedipine attenuates oxidative stress and histological changes in pancreas. This combination if explored and studied in man may serve as a clinical tool for slowing or preventing diabetic complications.