Plants Used in Chinese Medicine for the Treatment of Male Infertility Possess Antioxidant and Anti-Oestrogenic Activity

Figures & data

FIGURE 1 Curves showing examples of standard (agonist and antagonist) responses. Examples of agonist and antagonist responses to 17β-oestradiol (A) and flutamide (B) and examples of individual herb responses for oestrogenic (C) and anti-androgenic (D) activity as shown.

Activity and Property Summary

Herb number	Oestrogenic activityOestradiol equivalents (ng/g)	Anti-oestrogenic activityTamoxifen equivalents (mg/g)	Anti-androgenic activityFlutamide equivalents (mg/g)	Antioxidant activity% of ascorbic acid activity (100% is equivalent to 1.2 μg ascorbate equivalent, per mg dried herb)
Herb 1		87.66 (±12.1)	25.52 (±4.65)	90% (±1.41)
Herb 2				33% (±8.48)
Herb 3				0%
Herb 4		7.68 (±4.25)		60% (±2.82)
Herb 5		1280.66 (±319.61)	12.73 (±1.43)	105% (±2.82)
Herb 6		78.51 (±5.45)	54.89 (±7.63)	91% (±4.24)
Herb 7		2.58 (±0.30)		23% (±0.00)
Herb 8		15.94 (±4.36)		84% (±7.07)
Herb 9		8.77 (±5.01)		18% (±0.70)
Herb 10		10.33 (±1.88)	66.78 (±21.92)	99% (±4.94)
Herb 11		1.18 (±0.71)		5% (±7.07)
Herb 12		7.39 (±4.49)		76% (±0.00)
Herb 13		0.98 (±0.08)		27% (±0.70)
Herb 14	85.30 (±14.14)			100% (±2.82)
Herb 15		0.30 (±0.21)		13% (±4.24)
Herb 16		2.12 (±0.43)	0.32 (±0.21)	38% (±5.65)
Herb 17		0.06 (±0.01)		24% (±0.00)
Herb 18		0.52 (±0.57)		39% (±1.41)
Herb 19		12.91 (±5.60)	0.25 (±0.02)	99% (±9.89)
Herb 20	550.00 (±67.14)		0.17 (±0.01)	56% (±2.82)
Herb 21		5.82 (±0.62)		74% (±7.07)
Herb 22		27.05 (±9.50)	11.10 (±1.98)	70% (±8.48)
Herb 23		4.63 (±0.22)		77% (±1.41)
Herb 24		14.80 (±0.52)		98% (±5.65)
Herb 25				89% (±5.65)
Herb 26				91% (±0.00)
Herb 27		0.52 (±0.57)		32% (±0.00)
Herb 28		0.13 (±0.19)		68% (±4.94)
Herb 29		0.41 (±0.01)	4.52 (±0.55)	24% (±0.70)
Herb 30		0.93 (±0.09)		77% (±7.07)
Herb 31		7.84 (±1.37)	1.54 (±0.60)	27% (±1.41)
Herb 32		2.22 (±0.54)		50% (±0.00)
Herb 33		16.26 (±2.23)		100% (±9.89)
Herb 34		0.17 (±0.21)		59% (±2.82)
Herb 35		1.59 (±0.02)		100% (±0.70)
Herb 36		0.09 (±0.00)		27% (±4.24)
Herb 37				5% (±0.70)
Ascorbic acid				100%
ddh2O				0%
Decoction 1		0.22 (±0.15)		85% (±1.14)
Decoction 2		1.14 (±0.15)		87% (±0.70)
Decoction 3		0.26 (±0.01)		60% (±4.24)
Decoction 4		1.45 (±0.62)		82% (±0.00)
Decoction 5		3.73 (±0.38)		100% (±8.48)
Decoction 6		13.23 (±0.72)		37% (±0.70)
Decoction 7		3.31 (±0.01)		63% (±2.82)

Oestrogenic, anti-oestrogenic, anti-androgenic activity (expressed as oestradiol, tamoxifen and flutamide equivalents/g) and antioxidant activity in individual herbs and decoctions. Herbs exhibiting strong endocrine and/or antioxidant activity are indicated in bold.

Latin, Pin-Yin, and Common Names of Each of the 37 Individual Herbs

Herb no.	Latin name	Pin Yin name	Common name
Herb 1	Radix paeoniae rubrae	Chi Shao	Red peony root
Herb 2	Radix cyathula officinalis	Chuan Niu Xi	Cyathula root
Herb 3	Sclerotium poriae cocos	Fu Ling	Poria
Herb 4	Fructus lycii chinensis	Gou Qi Zi	Lycium fruit
Herb 5	Cortex phellodendri	Huang Bi	Phellodrendron bark
Herb 6	Cortex moudan radicis	Mu Dan Pi	Moutan
Herb 7	Fructus ligustri lucidi	Nu Zhen Zi	Ligustrum seed/glossy privet fruit
Herb 8	Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch	Shu Di	Oriental or Korean foxglove
Herb 9	Rhizoma dioscoreae	Shan Yao	Chinese yam
Herb 10	Fructus corni officinalis	Shan Zhu Yu	Cornus fruit/dogwood fruit
Herb 11	Semen persicae	Tao Ren	Persica
Herb 12	Semen cuscutae	Tu Si Zi	Dadder seed/ cuscuta seed
Herb 13	Rhizoma alismatis plantago-aquaticae	Ze Xie	Alismatis rhizome/ water plantain tuber
Herb 14	Rhizoma anemarrhenae asphodeloidis	Zhi Mu	Anemarrhena
Herb 15	Radix moridae officinalis	Ba Ji Tian	Morinda root
Herb 16	Rhizoma atractylodis macrocephalae	Bai Zhu	Alba atractylodes
Herb 17	Semen plantaginis	Che Qian Zi	Plantago seed
Herb 18	Radix codonopsis pilosulae	Dang Shen	Codonopsis
Herb 19	Fructus rubi	Fu Pen Zi	Rubus
Herb 20	Radix glycyrrhizae uralensis	Gan Cao	Liquorice root
Herb 21	Flos carthami tinctorii	Hong Hua	Safflower flower
Herb 22	Semen varricariae pyramidata medic	Wang Bu Liu Xing	Vaccaria seed
Herb 23	Fructus schisandrae chinensis	Wu Wei Zi	Schisandra fruit
Herb 24	Aurantii fructus	Zhi Ke	Aurantium fruit
Herb 25	Acori graminei rhizome	Shi Chang Pu	Acorus rhizome
Herb 26	Nelumbinis embryo	Lian Zi Xin	Lotus embryo
Herb 27	Rhizoma dioscoreae septemlobae	Bi Xie	Hypoglauca yam
Herb 28	Rhizoma atractylodis	Cang Zhu	Attractylodes
Herb 29	Radix bupleuri chinensis	Chai Hu	Bupleurum
Herb 30	Rhizoma cimicifugae	Sheng Ma	Bugbane rhizome
Herb 31	Radix astragali seuhedysari	Huang Qi	Astragalus root
Herb 32	Radix rehmanniae glutinosae	Sheng Di Huang	Fresh rehmannia
Herb 33	Pericarpium citri reticulata blanco	Chen Pi	Citrus peel
Herb 34	Eclipta prostrata	Han Lian Cao	Eclipta
Herb 35	Flos lonicerae japonicae	Jin Yin Hua	Lonicera flower
Herb 36	Herba epimedii	Yin Yang Huo	Epimedium
Herb 37	Semen coicis	Yi Yi Ren	Coix seed/jobs tear seed