Objective: To investigate the impact of Mucuna pruriens seeds on semen profiles and biochemical levels in seminal plasma of infertile men.
Design: Prospective study.
Setting: Departments of Biochemistry and Obstetrics and Gynecology, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, India.
Patient(s): Sixty normal healthy fertile men (controls) and 60 men undergoing infertility screening.
Intervention(s): High-performance liquid chromatography assay procedure for quantitation of vitamin A and E in seminal plasma. Biochemical parameters in seminal plasma, namely lipids, fructose, and vitamin C, were estimated by standard spectrophotometric procedures.
Main outcome measure(s): Before and after the treatment, seminal plasma lipid profile, lipid peroxide, fructose, and antioxidant vitamin levels were measured.
Result(s): Treatment with M. pruriens significantly inhibited lipid peroxidation, elevated spermatogenesis, and improved sperm motility. Treatment also recovered the levels of total lipids, triglycerides, cholesterol, phospholipids, and vitamin A, C, and E and corrected fructose in seminal plasma of infertile men.
Conclusion(s): Treatment with M. pruriens increased sperm concentration and motility in all the infertile study groups. Oligozoospermic patients recovered sperm concentration significantly, but sperm motility was not restored to normal levels in asthenozoospermic men. Furthermore, in the seminal plasma of all the infertile groups, the levels of lipids, antioxidant vitamins, and corrected fructose were recovered after a decrease in lipid peroxides after treatment. The present study is likely to open new vistas on the possible role of M. pruriens seed powder as a restorative and invigorating agent for infertile men.