Sexual Health
Male Fertility and Panax Ginseng
| Journal | Archives of Pharmacal Research. 2006 Sep;29(9):800-7The therapeutic effect of tissue cultured root of wild Panax ginseng C.A. Mayer on spermatogenetic disorder |
| Title | The therapeutic effect of tissue cultured root of wild Panax ginseng C.A. Mayer on spermatogenetic disorder |
| Authors | Park JS, Hwang SY, Lee WS, Yu KW, Paek KY, Hwang BY, Han K |
| Institution | College of Pharmacy, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk 361-763, Republic of Korea |
| Summary | This study examined the possibility of using a tissue cultured root of wild Panax ginseng (tcwPG) as a fertility agent.
The effect of tcwPG on spermatogenesis was studied using male rats. The tcwPG crude powder was administered orally to 7-week-old rats over a 6-week period. The number of sperm in the testes and epididymides was significantly higher than the control. A histological examination did not reveal any morphological changes in the testes from the tcwPG powder treated rats. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the weights of the heart, spleen, liver, kidney, brain, testes and epididymides. Oligospermia was also induced by administering 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodaibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) to the rats in order to estimate the feasibility of using tcwPG as treatment for infertility caused by spermatogenic disorders. After exposing the rats to TCDD, the tcwPG saponin fraction treated rats showed some improvement in the body weight, sperm number and testis morphology. It was estimated that tcwPG had feasibility as a therapeutic agent on spermatogenic disorder. PubMed Link – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17024855 |
Ginseng, Sex Behavior and Nitric Oxide
| Journal | Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2002 May; 962:372-7 |
| Title | Ginseng, sex behavior, and nitric oxide |
| Authors | Murphy LL, Lee TJ |
| Institution | Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA |
| lmurphy@siumed.edu | |
| Summary | In Asia, ginseng is commonly included in herbals used for the treatment of sexual dysfunction. Recent studies in laboratory animals have shown that both Asian and American forms of ginseng enhance libido and copulatory performance.
These effects of ginseng may not be due to changes in hormone secretion, but to direct effects of ginseng, or its ginsenoside components, on the central nervous system and gonadal tissues. Indeed, there is good evidence that ginsenosides can facilitate penile erection by directly inducing the vasodilatation and relaxation of penile corpus cavernosum. Moreover, the effects of ginseng on the corpus cavernosum appear to be mediated by the release and/or modification of release of nitric oxide from endothelial cells and perivascular nerves. Treatment with American ginseng also affects the central nervous system and has been shown to significantly alter the activity of hypothalamic catecholamines involved in the facilitation of copulatory behavior and hormone secretion. Recent findings that ginseng treatment decreased prolactin secretion also suggested a direct nitric oxide-mediated effect of ginseng at the level of the anterior pituitary. Thus, animal studies lend growing support for the use of ginseng in the treatment of sexual dysfunction and provide increasing evidence for a role of nitric oxide in the mechanism of ginsenoside action. PubMed Link – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12076988 |
Enhanced Sperm
| Journal | Mol Reprod Dev. 2007 Apr; 74(4):497-501 |
| Title | Ginsenoside Re promotes human sperm capacitation through nitric oxide-dependent pathway |
| Authors | Zhang H, Zhou Q, Li X, Zhao W, Wang Y, Liu H, Li N |
| Institution | Department of Medical Physics, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China |
| zhangh@impcas.ac.cn | |
| Summary | The regulation of sperm capacitation is important for successful fertilization. Ginsenosides, the biologically effective components of ginseng, have been found to enhance intracellular nitric oxide (NO) production and the latter has recently been indicated to play a significant role in modulation of sperm functions.
We investigated the effect of Ginsenoside Re on human sperm capacitation in vitro and the mechanism by which the Ginsenosides play their roles. Spermatozoa were separated by Percoll and incubated with 0, 1, 10, or 100 microM of Ginsenoside Re. The percentages of spontaneous and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC)-induced acrosome reaction (AR), as a measure of sperm capacitation, were assayed with fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated Pisum sativum agglutinin (FITC-PSA). The intracellular cGMP level was measured by [(3)H] cGMP radioimmunoassay system. The results showed that the percentages of both spontaneous and LPC-induced AR and intracellular cGMP level were significantly enhanced by Ginsenoside Re with a concentration-dependent manner. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 100 nM), a NO donor, mimicked the effects of Ginsenoside Re. And pretreatment with a NOS inhibitor N(omega)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME, 100 microM) or a NO scavenger N-acetyl-l-cysteine (LNAC, 1 mM) completely blocked the effects of Ginsenoside Re. Furthermore, the AR-inducing effect of Ginsenoside Re was significantly reduced in the presence of the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor LY83583 or cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PCK) inhibitor KT5823, whereas addition of the cGMP analogue 8-Br-cGMP significantly increased the AR of human spermatozoa. Data suggested that Ginsenoside Re is beneficial to sperm capacitation and AR, and that the effect is accomplished through NO/cGMP/PKG pathway. PubMed Link – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17013883 |