Polar Quassinoids in Standardized Eurycoma longifolia Extract Formulated into a Lipid-Based Solid Dispersion to Improve Rat Sperm Count.

Eurycoma longifolia Jack is popularly sought in Southeast Asian countries for traditional remedies to improve sexual performance and fertility. 13α(21)-Epoxyeurycomanone and eurycomanone, two major quassinoids in a root extract (TAF2) were reported to improve rat spermatogenesis and fertility. Unfortunately, these quassinoids possess low bioavailability because of high aqueous solubility and low lipid membrane permeability. Often, other possible barriers may be P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux in the gut and presystemic hepatic metabolism. The present study attempted to solve these problems by formulating a lipid-based solid dispersion (TAF2-SD) of optimized mixture of TAF2 and emulsifiers, which was then orally administered to rats prior to sperm count analysis. The TAF2-SD-treated rats showed significantly twofold (p < 0.001) and fourfold (p < 0.001) higher sperm count than did TAF2-treated and vehicle-treated (control) rats, respectively. The study also demonstrated no significant in vitro ileal absorption changes of the quassinoids by P-gp efflux inhibitors and concentration change or secondary metabolite formation upon in vitro incubation with rat liver homogenates, suggesting that P-gp-mediated efflux and presystemic metabolism were not limiting their bioavailability. Further study on orally TAF2-treated rats confirmed that the area under the curve and bioavailability curve of each quassinoid in the absence and presence of ketoconazole were unchanged. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.