Skip Navigation



eCAM Advance Access published online on September 29, 2009
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nep138
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mahdi, A. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dalela, D.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mahdi, A. A.
Right arrow Articles by Dalela, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?


© The Author(s) 2009. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Withania somnifera Improves Semen Quality in Stress-Related Male Fertility

Abbas Ali Mahdi1, Kamla Kant Shukla1, Mohammad Kaleem Ahmad1, Singh Rajender2, Satya Narain Shankhwar3, Vishwajeet Singh3 and Deepansh Dalela1

1Department of Biochemistry, C.S.M. Medical University, Lucknow 26003, 2Endrocrinology Division, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow 226001 and 3Department of Urology, C.S.M. Medical University, Lucknow 226003, India

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.

Keywords: anti-oxidants – cigarette smokers – male infertility – psychological stress – sex hormone – Withania somnifera

For reprints and all correspondence: Abbas Ali Mahdi, Medical Elementology and Free Radical Biology Lab, Department of Biochemistry, C.S.M. Medical University, (Formerly King George’s Medical University), Lucknow 226003, India. Tel: + 91-9839011192; Fax: +91-522-2253030; E-mail: mahdiaa{at}rediffmail.com, aamahdi{at}mefr.in

Received November 21, 2008; accepted July 17, 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.