Phytochemical Basis of Oriental Medicine Herbal Remedies for erectile dysfunction

Background and Aim: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common cause of seeking advice from health care professionals. The required advices include information concerning the utility of remedies proposed by traditional medicine. Substantial advertising and the significant business of herbal aphrodisiacs demand the accomplishment of many studies concerning the efficacy and safety of these distinct approaches. Unfortunately, the majority of potential remedies provided by aphrodisiac plants in Oriental Medicine (OM) have roughly remained unnoticed. Moreover, usually only one pathway regarding the bioactivity of a specific plant is addressed. However, plants contain several bioactive ingredients every one of which engages in various biological systems. Materials and Methods: In this investigation, the entire plants recommended for ED by OM that were selected from comprehensive pharmacopeia texts, storehouses of medicaments, were identified. Subsequently, their latest scientific names were identified; and finally, the relevant phytochemical and biologic activities of every one of them were extracted from Dr. Duke s Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. Results: Out of 210 plants suggested for treating ED in OM, only 76 plants were present in the mentioned database. Meanwhile, 62 (82%) cases of them had phytochemical evidence that might be effective through one or more pathways known to affect the pathophysiology of ED. Conclusion: This paper primarily provides a multidimensional prospective to herbal remedies for ED, and seeks to suggest more efficient formulations of herbal combinations recommended by OM. The researchers also attempt to propose new ideas for further research in the future.