Pharmaco-therapeutic potentials of Mucuna pruriens (L.) in male infertility and associated sexual dysfunctions

Abstract Mucuna pruriens (L.) (MP), also known as Kapikacchu in Sanskrit, is a well-known medicinal plant, the seed of which is commonly used in traditional systems of medicine worldwide, mainly for treating male infertility and associated conditions. Infertility is a multifactorial disease process with several potential contributing causes, among which male factors contribute to almost 50% of cases of infertility, the causative factors of which can be counted from faulty lifestyle to stress factors. In Ayurvedic system of medicine, various formulations of MP are explained in Vajikarana (Aphrodisiac) context. In this review, Pubmed, Google Scholar, Scopemed, and other online databases, including fields of pharmacology, pharmacognosy, and health, and published chapters of both classical and contemporary books, were rationally scrutinized to find out the scope, research possibilities, and potential role in improving male infertility and associated sexual dysfunctions. After thorough scrutiny, it has been observed that MP has an action on multiple aspects of infertility like aging, depression, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and Parkinson’s disease due to the presence of a complex mixture of alkaloids (like L-DOPA and its metabolites) and its nutritional component, along with its antioxidant and adaptogenic properties, which raises hope for the researchers to explore the effect of the drug in more accurate and aggressive way to fulfill the demand of the global issue.