Safety profile of colocasia esculenta tuber extracts in benign prostate hyperplasia.

INTRODUCTION: This study was motivated by the increasing global incidence of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and the promising potential of nutraceuticals as complementary therapies in ameliorating its burden. We report the safety profile of C. esculenta tuber extracts, a novel nutraceutical in benign prostate hyperplasia in a rat model. METHODS: In this study, forty-five male albino rats were randomly assigned to 9 groups of 5 rats each. Group 1 (normal control) received olive oil and normal saline. Group 2 (BPH untreated group) received 3 mg/kg of testosterone propionate (TP) and normal saline, and group 3 (positive control) received 3 mg/kg of TP and 5 mg/kg of finasteride. Treatment groups 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 received 3 mg/kg of TP and a middle dose (200 mg/kg) of LD50 of ethanol crude tuber extract of C. esculenta (ECTECE) or hexane, dichloromethane, butanone, ethyl acetate and aqueous fractions of ECTECE respectively for a period of 28 days. RESULTS: The negative controls showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in mean relative prostate weight (approximately 5 times) as well as a reduction in relative testes weight (approximately 1.4 times less). There was no significant (p > 0.05) difference in the mean relative weights of most vital organs: liver, kidneys, and heart. This was also observed in hematological parameters: RBC, hemoglobin, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, and platelets counts. In general, we note that the effects of the well-established drug finasteride on the biochemical parameters and histology of selected organs are comparable to those of C. esculenta fractions. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that C. esculenta tuber extracts provide potentially safe nutraceutical if applied in the management of benign prostate hyperplasia based on a rat model.

In-vivo and in-silico studies revealed the molecular mechanisms of Colocasia esculenta phenolics as novel chemotherapy against benign prostatic hyperplasia via inhibition of 5α-reductase and α1-adrenoceptor.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) is a major cause of lower urinary tract infections and erectile dysfunction thus a major contributor to lowering the quality of life among older men. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism of Colocasia esculenta (CE) as a novel agent for BPH chemotherapy. In vivo, we assigned 45 male Wistar albino rats about 6 weeks old into 9 experimental groups (n = 5). BPH was induced in groups 2-9 with 3 mg/kg of Testosterone Propionate (TP) subcutaneously. Group 2 (BPH) was not treated. Group 3 was treated with 5 mg/kg Finasteride (standard drug). Group 4-9 were treated each with 200 mg/kg body weight (b.w) of CE crude tuber extracts/fractions (ethanol, hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, butanol, aqueous). At the end of treatment, we sampled the rats' serum to check the level of PSA. In silico, we conducted a molecular docking of the crude extract of CE phenolics (CyP) previously reported, targeting 5α-Reductase and α1-Adrenoceptor linked to the BPH progressions. We adopted the standard inhibitors/antagonists (5α-reductase: finasteride; α1-adrenoceptor: tamsulosin) of the target proteins as controls. Furthermore, the pharmacological properties of the lead molecules were studied in terms of ADMET using swissadme and pKCSM resources, respectively. Results showed that administration of TP in male Wistar albino rats significantly (p < 0.05) elevated serum PSA levels whereas CE crude extracts/fractions significantly (p < 0.05) lowered the serum PSA level. Also, fourteen of the CyPs bind to at least one or two of the target proteins with their binding affinity of between - 9.3 to - 5.6 kcal/mol and - 6.9 to - 4.2 kcal/mol, respectively. The CyPs possess better pharmacological properties compared to the standard drugs. Therefore, they have the potentials to be enlisted for clinical trials towards the management of BPH.