Withania somnifera Improves Semen Quality in Stress-Related Male Fertility - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2009 Sep 29:2011:576962.

doi: 10.1093/ecam/nep138. Online ahead of print.

Affiliations

Abbas Ali Mahdi et al. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009.

Abstract

Stress has been reported to be a causative factor for male infertility. Withania somnifera has been documented in Ayurveda and Unani medicine system for its stress-combating properties. However, limited scientific literature is available on this aspect of W. somnifera. We undertook the present study to understand the role of stress in male infertility, and to test the ability of W. somnifera to combat stress and treat male infertility. We selected normozoospermic but infertile individuals (N = 60), further categorized in three groups: normozoospermic heavy smokers (N = 20), normozoospermics under psychological stress (N = 20) and normozoospermics with infertility of unknown etiology (N = 20). Normozoospermic fertile men (N = 60) were recruited as controls. The subjects were given root powder of W. somnifera at a rate of 5 g/day for 3 months. Measuring various biochemical and stress parameters before and after treatment, suggested a definite role of stress in male infertility and the ability of W. somnifera to treat stress-related infertility. Treatment resulted in a decrease in stress, improved the level of anti-oxidants and improved overall semen quality in a significant number of individuals. The treatment resulted in pregnancy in the partners of 14% of the patients.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Semen profiles of “under stress” infertile men treated with W. somnifera. Pre: Pretreatment; Post: Post-treatment; Normo: normozoospermic; Normo cig: normozoospermic cigarette smokers; Normo psy: normozoospermic psychological stress. Each bar represents mean ± SD. Significance: b P < .01, c P < .05; compared with controls, **P < .01, *P < .05; compared with pretreatment subjects; NS, not significant.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Biochemical parameters in patients treated with W. somnifera. Significance: b P < .01,c _P_ < .05 (while comparing Pre with Control); **_P_ < .01, *_P_ < .05 (while comparing Post with Pre); NS: not significant (_P_ > .05).

Figure 3

Figure 3

Bar diagram showing average hormonal levels in patients before and after treatment with W. somnifera. The asterisks on bars of pretreatment show significant difference from control and on post-treatment show significant difference from pretreatment. The error bars show standard deviation.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Bar diagram showing average serum cortisol levels at 8 a.m. (a) and 4 p.m. (b) in patients before and after treatment with W. somnifera. The asterisks on bars of pretreatment group show significant difference from control and posttreatment group show significant difference from pretreatment. The error bars show standard deviation.

Figure 5

Figure 5

The proposed mechanism of action of W. somnifera. The solid lines in the figure indicate the situation in infertile subjects where psychological stress and smoking may contribute to infertility. The dotted lines indicate the points of action of W. somnifera, which acts by counteracting the stressors.

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