A herbal medicine, saikokaryukotsuboreito, improves serum testosterone levels and affects sexual behavior in old male mice

Figures & data

Table 1. Crude drug composition of SKRBT.

Ingredients’ English name	Contents (g)	Ingredients’ Latin name
Bupleurum root	5.0	Bupleuri radix
Pinellia tuber	4.0	Pinelliae tuber
Cinnamon bark	3.0	Cinnamomi cortex
Poria sclerotium	3.0	Poria cocos
Scutellaria root	2.5	Scutellariae radix
Jujube	2.5	Zizyphifructus
Oyster shell	2.5	Ostreaetesta
Ginseng	2.5	Ginseng radix
Longgu	2.5	Fossiliaossismastodi
Rhubarb	1.0	Rheirhizoma
Ginger	0.8	Zingiberisrhizoma

Table 2. Primary and secondary antibodies used for immunofluorescence analysis.

Antibodies	Dilution	Distributor/source (catalog number)
Mouse polyclonal to  StAR(D-2)	1:200	Santa Cruz, Heidelberg  (sc-166821)
DAPI	1:1	Millipore, Germany (S7113)
Goat anti-mouse IgG  Alexa 594	1:500	Invitrogen (A11032)

Figure 1. Effects of SKRBT on the levels of serum testosterone (n = 12 per group). All values are mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05 compared with control group.

Figure 2. Measures of sexual behavior of control group and SKRBT treated groups (n = 12 per group). All values are mean ± SEM, ^#p < 0.01,*p < 0.05 compared with control group. (A) Mean latency in minutes of mount, intromission and ejaculation. (B) Mean frequency per minute of mount, intromission and mean copulatory efficacy per minute.

Figure 3. Mice were treated with SKRBT every day for three weeks and then the testes were harvested for fluorescent immunohistochemistry to identify the StAR-positive Leydig cells in interstitial spaces. (A) The number of StAR-positive cells (n = 12 per group) was determined. I = interstitial spaces, T = seminiferous tubules. Magnification ×400. (B) The number of StAR-positive cells per interstitial space. Results are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 12).