| Title |
Polysaccharides from Wolfberry Prevents Corticosterone-Induced Inhibition of Sexual Behavior and Increases Neurogenesis
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
PLOS ONE, April 2012
|
| DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0033374 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Benson Wui-Man Lau, Jada Chia-Di Lee, Yue Li, Sophia Man-Yuk Fung, Yan-Hua Sang, Jiangang Shen, Raymond Chuen-Chung Chang, Kwok-Fai So |
| Abstract |
Lycium barbarum, commonly known as wolfberry, has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of infertility and sexual dysfunction. However, there is still a scarcity of experimental evidence to support the pro-sexual effect of wolfberry. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) on male sexual behavior of rats. Here we report that oral feeding of LBP for 21 days significantly improved the male copulatory performance including increase of copulatory efficiency, increase of ejaculation frequency and shortening of ejaculation latency. Furthermore, sexual inhibition caused by chronic corticosterone was prevented by LBP. Simultaneously, corticosterone suppressed neurogenesis in subventricular zone and hippocampus in adult rats, which could be reversed by LBP. The neurogenic effect of LBP was also shown in vitro. Significant correlation was found between neurogenesis and sexual performance, suggesting that the newborn neurons are associated with reproductive successfulness. Blocking neurogenesis in male rats abolished the pro-sexual effect of LBP. Taken together, these results demonstrate the pro-sexual effect of LBP on normal and sexually-inhibited rats, and LBP may modulate sexual behavior by regulating neurogenesis. |
X Demographics
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Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 2 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 50% |
| Members of the public | 1 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 45 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2 | 4% |
| United States | 2 | 4% |
| India | 1 | 2% |
| Canada | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 39 | 87% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 7 | 16% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 13% |
| Other | 5 | 11% |
| Researcher | 5 | 11% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 4 | 9% |
| Other | 11 | 24% |
| Unknown | 7 | 16% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 6 | 13% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 6 | 13% |
| Neuroscience | 5 | 11% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 4 | 9% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 7% |
| Other | 13 | 29% |
| Unknown | 8 | 18% |