1. Lycium chinense Mill improves hypogonadism via anti-oxidative stress and anti-apoptotic effect in old aged rat model.
- Author
-
Jeong HC, Jeon SH, Guan Qun Z, Bashraheel F, Choi SW, Kim SJ, Bae WJ, Cho HJ, Ha US, Hong SH, Lee JY, Hong SB, and Kim SW
- Subjects
- Aging, Animals, Humans, Male, Oxidative Stress drug effects, Random Allocation, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Receptors, Androgen drug effects, Sperm Count, Sperm Motility drug effects, Hypogonadism drug therapy, Lycium, Plant Extracts pharmacology, Testosterone blood
- Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the pharmacological effects of goji berry ( Lycium chinense P. Mill) in an animal model of late-onset hypogonadism (LOH). Materials and methods: Thirty 18-month-old male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were used as the LOH aged rat model. Rats were divided into five groups: a control group ( n = 6), low concentration goji berry extract group (150 mg/kg/day) ( n = 6), high concentration goji berry extract group (300 mg/kg/day) ( n = 6), low concentration goji berry complex extract group (150 mg/kg/day) ( n = 6), and high goji berry complex concentration extract group (300 mg/kg/day) ( n = 6). After six weeks of treatment, sperm counts and motility, serum testosterone level, androgen receptor (AR) expression, oxidative stress marker, and apoptotic factors were examined. Results: Goji berry extracts increased testosterone level to 2.07 ± 0.06 pmol/L in the goji berry 150 mg/kg group, 2.39 ± 0.08 pmol/L in the goji berry 300 mg/kg group, 2.97 ± 0.03 pmol/L in the goji berry complex 150 mg/kg group, and 3.34 ± 0.04 pmol/L in the goji berry complex 300 mg/kg group compared to 1.86 ± 0.03 pmol/L in the control group, respectively ( p < .05). AR expressions were increased in testis tissue significantly but were not significant in prostate tissue. Conclusions: Goji berry might improve LOH by reversing testicular dysfunction via an anti-oxidative stress mechanism without inducing prostate disease.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF