• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.328-334
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Maca water and/or ethanol extract on the nitric oxide (NO) production in human umbilical vein endothelial cells HUVAC and on erectile dysfunction in rats. Maca was extracted due to both solutions, which are water and ethanol. Each Maca extract was applied to HUVAC, and NO production was checked. Additionally, three different dosages (250, 500 and 1,000 mg/kg) of Maca ethanol extract was administered to Sprague-Dawley rats for 4 weeks. All rats were sacrificed and each sample was collected for analysis. The control rats received only the saline vehicle. The NO production of HUVAC was significantly increased by domestic and homemade Maca water extracted at $60^{\circ}C$ group. Both NO generation and testosterone release were not influenced due to the oral administration of Maca. In the EtOH group rats, the number of sperm was reduced compared to that of the control group. All Maca groups had a high number of sperm and each sperm count had increased as a result of the Maca extract dose. The results of this research suggest that Maca has a positive effect on male erectile dysfunction, which need to be examined further in future studies.