Development of precocious puberty in children: Surmised medicinal plant treatment.

Precocious puberty in children is one of the common endocrine diseases in paediatrics. Epidemiological surveys have shown that the number of children with precocious puberty has significantly increased globally. Precocious puberty negatively affects the physical and mental health of children and may increase the risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and infertility in adulthood. Therefore, the initiating factors of adolescence have become core issues in the study of sexual development in children. Owing to developments in molecular genetics, many studies have been able to show that precocious puberty is mostly resulted in autosomal inheritance. For instance, makorin ring finger protein 3 gene (MKRN3) may be implicated in familial CPP. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) is the gold standard for treatment, but its safety still requires long-term evaluation and management. Traditional medicinal plants have been used in clinical treatments and in exploring novel treatment methods. From the collected datas, in Asia, traditional Chinese medicine treatment is based on the principles of nourishing Yin, lowering fire and draining fire from the liver to help precocious children and alleviate or delay the onset of precocious puberty by medicinal plants such as Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bge., Phellodendron amurense Rupr., Rehmannia glutinosa and Poria cocos Wolf. They play an important role in exploring the pharmacological mechanisms of precocious puberty treatment effects and drug development. Therefore, by elucidating the occurrence and development of precocious puberty, this review provides novel and valuable insights of paediatric endocrine therapy accessing the published researches on the effectiveness of traditional herbal medicine in the treatment of precocious puberty and its therapeutic mechanisms.

Lycium barbarum polysaccharide attenuates diabetic testicular dysfunction via inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway-mediated abnormal autophagy in male mice.

Testicular dysfunction is one of the serious secondary complications in diabetes. Lycium barbarum polysaccharide (LBP) has long been considered to possess a wide range of beneficial properties including antiaging, anticancer and reproductive-enhancing. Abnormal autophagy was reported to play a significant role in accelerating diabetic reproductive injury. However, the autophagy regulation mechanism of LBP on diabetic testicular dysfunction is incompletely understood. We investigate the protective effects of LBP on diabetic testicular dysfunction and its underlying mechanism with different approaches. Protective effects of LBP (40 mg/kg) on testicular functions were assessed through the use of sperm parameters, testosterone levels and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Antioxidant capacity and serum malondialdehyde levels were determined using assay kits. Immune intensity of Beclin-1 and LC3I in testes was detected by immunofluorescence staining. Western blot analysis was used to detect expressions of p-PI3K, Akt, p-Akt, Beclin-1, LC3I and LC3II proteins. Q-PCR was used to evaluate Beclin-1 and LC3I mRNA expressions in testis. Administration of LBP (40 mg/kg) considerably recovered testicular function, obviously improved testicular histopathologic structure and significantly increased antioxidant enzyme activities. Immunofluorescence staining showed that immune intensity of Beclin-1 and LC3I significantly decreased in the LBP 40 mg/kg group. The results of Q-PCR and western blot analysis showed that LBP 40 mg/kg significantly downregulated Beclin-1 and LC3I protein expressions upregulated p-PI3K and p-Akt protein expressions and decreased Beclin-1 and LC3I mRNA expressions compared with diabetic mice. In conclusion, inhibition of PI3K/Akt pathway-mediated testicular excessive autophagy may be a target for protective effects of LBP on diabetic testicular dysfunction.

Diabetes associated with male reproductive system damages: Onset of presentation, pathophysiological mechanisms and drug intervention.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major health problem that affects patients' quality of life quality throughout the world due to its many complications. Reproductive dysfunction is one of the major secondary complications in both diabetic animals and human beings. Furthermore, DM has recently broken the age barrier and has been heavily diagnosed in children and young persons of reproductive age. In the past few years, many studies on DM in male reproductive functions in both diabetic men and experimental diabetic animals have been published. It is recognized that sustained hyperglycemia, which impairs reproductive function in diabetic men, is at risk of developing. DM harmfully affects male reproductive functions in multiple areas; these may include spermatogenesis, sperm maturation, fertility capability, penile erection, and ejaculation. Traditional medicine and folklore worldwide have used numerous medicinal plants to manage the diabetic reproductive dysfunction because bioactive phyto-constituents are affluent in many places. Unfortunately, the exact reasons for diabetic male reproductive dysfunction are not completely understood and currently there are no treatments in reproductive medicine specifically for such lesions. The aim of this review is to summarize current research findings of DM on reproductive functions, to elaborate the underlying mechanisms related to these diseases via in vivo and in vitro studies, and to describe the ameliorative effects of medicinal plants or their products. The review findings provide a systematic understanding of DM on the reproductive functions and lay the theoretical foundation for developing the direction of reproductive medicine.