Standardized Saw Palmetto Extract Directly and Indirectly Affects Testosterone Biosynthesis and Spermatogenesis.
J Med Food
; 24(6): 617-625, 2021 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34161166
ABSTRACT
We investigated whether a standardized saw palmetto extract (SP, mixture of supercritical extract and ethanol extract at a ratio of 9.5 to 0.5) can relieve the symptoms of andropause, including metabolic syndrome, and decreases in muscle endurance and spermatogenesis, in old rats. Twenty-four-week-old male Sprague Dawley rats received oral supplementation of SP at 40, 80, and 160 mg/kg body weight (bw) for 4 weeks. We found that SP supplementation reduced body weight gain by decreasing visceral and epididymal fat weights and the levels of serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein/very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In addition, SP supplementation increased muscle endurance, sperm counts, and testosterone biosynthesis through hormonal regulation. In Leydig cells under hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress, SP treatment directly induced testosterone biosynthesis by activating the mRNA expression of the genes encoding 17,20-desmolase and 3ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 4. In conclusion, our results suggest that supplementation of SP may be useful for alleviating the symptoms of andropause via direct and indirect regulation of testosterone biosynthesis.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Spermatogenesis
/
Plant Extracts
Language:
En
Journal:
J Med Food
Year:
2021
Type:
Article