A substance
isolated from Cornus officinalis enhances the motility
of human sperm
Acupuncture, Infertility, & IVF Research - Abstract Articles
Jeng H; Wu CM; Su SJ; Chang WC Department of Anatomy,
Taipei Medical College, Taiwan.
Am J Chin Med 1997;25
(3-4):301-6 (ISSN: 0192-415X)
The effects of a Chinese herb, Cornus officinalis, on
the motility of human sperm was studied. An aqueous
extract was prepared from the dried fruits of the herb
and used in this study. The crude extract at a final
concentration of 0.5 microgram/microliter in phosphate
buffered saline (pH 7.4) increased sperm motility from
25.8 +/- 7.7% to 42.8 +/- 10.3% (i.e. 68% increase, n =
7), as
determined by the computer-aided-sperm-analysis (CASA)
method. The crude extract was fractionated by
high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) into four
fractions: C1, C2, C3 and C4. Their effects on sperm
motility were further studied by CASA. Only the C4
fraction showed substantial stimulatory effects on sperm
motility. At a concentration of 5 ng/microliter, C4
increased the sperm motility from 15.7 +/- 3.8% to 34.5
+/- 6.4% (i.e. 120% increase, n = 6) by CASA and from
14.9 +/- 4.3 to 28.5 +/- 8.1 (i.e. 91% increase, n = 8)
by transmembrane migration ratio (TMMR) method. This
result suggests that C4 is the active component in
Cornus officinalis that enhances sperm motility.
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