Study of pharmacological basis of aphrodisiac effect of Al-Ahmar a mercurial unani formulation

Al-Ahmar is a mercurial compound preparation of Unani System of Medicine, widely used as aphrodisiac agent in cases of sexual dysfunction. In the present study, it was evaluated experimentally for erythropoietic, androgenic, anabolic and steroidal activities in order to elucidate its likely mechanism of action. Al-Ahmar has been shown to produce remarkable erythropoietic effect; it also produced androgenic and steroidal effects that are almost equal to the effect of testosterone and hydrocortisone, respectively. Test drug was found to produce sex-improving effect by diverse mechanisms. However, the androgenic effect was more prominent and striking