Effects of treatment with Astragalus Membranaceus on function of rat leydig cells

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Lihua Lv¹  George W Smith⁵  Jianbo Yao³  Zhiyan Li⁴  Pengfei Li²  Jinzhu Meng¹  Yan Liu¹  Miaomiao Zhao¹  Xiaolei Yao¹  Jianwei Chen¹  Yang Huang¹  Xia Cao¹  Xiaolong Jiang¹ 

[1]College of Animal Science and Technology, Shanxi Agricultural University, No.1 Mingxian Nan Road, Taigu 030801, China

[2]College of Life Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu 030801, Shanxi, China

[3]Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences, West Virginia University, Morgantown 26506, WV, USA

[4]Pharmaceutical Analysis Laboratory of Fudan University, Shanghai 200000, China

[5]Departments of Animal Physiology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824, MI, USA

关键词: Testosterone;    Bcl-2;    Bax;    SOD and GPx;    Leydig cell;    Astragalus membranaceus;   

Others  :  1221532
DOI  :  10.1186/s12906-015-0776-3

 received in 2015-03-25, accepted in 2015-07-13,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

Background

Astragalus membranaceus (AM) is a Chinese traditional herb which has been reported to have broad positive effects on many diseases, including hepatitis, heart disease, diabetes and skin disease. AM can promote cell proliferation, increase the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and inhibit apoptosis by regulating the transcription of proto-oncogenes controlling cell death. While AM is included in some commercially available “testosterone boosting supplements”, studies directly testing ability of AM to modulate testosterone production are lacking. In the present study, we examined the effects of AM on Leydig cell function in vitro.

Methods

Rat Leydig cells were purified and treated with AM at different concentrations (0 μg/mL, 10 μg/mL, 20 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL, 100 μg/mL and 150 μg/mL) and cell counting-8 (CCK-8) assay, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, quantitative real time PCR and analysis of activities of SOD and GPx were done respectively.

Results

Treatment with 100 μg/mL (P < 0.05) and 150 μg/mL AM (P < 0.01) significantly increased Leydig cell numbers. Treatment with AM (20 μg/mL, 50 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL) significantly increased testosterone production (P < 0.01). In addition, increased Leydig cell SOD and GPx activities were observed in response to 20 μg/mL and 50 μg/mL AM treatment (P < 0.01). Furthermore, expression of Bax mRNA was significantly decreased (P < 0.01), and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax mRNA was significantly increased in response to 20 μg/mL AM in the culture medium (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Results supported a beneficial effect of AM on multiple aspects of rat Leydig cell function in vitro including testosterone production.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Jiang et al.

【 图 表 】

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