title: Yang-tonifying traditional Chinese medicinal plants and their potential phytoandrogenic activity.
abstract: The concept of phytoandrogens, plants that contain androgens or those that stimulate androgenic activity in men, is relatively new. In traditional Chinese medicine a number of phytoandrogens are classified in medicinal plant restoratives for reinforcing yang, and they find their application in the treatment of the kidney yang deficiency diseases. In this review, the phytoandrogens used in traditional Chinese medicine are listed, and their proven applications in the treatment of kidney yang deficiency diseases, such as sexual disorders, cancer, and obesity and associated metabolic syndromes are presented. As a background, the mechanism of action of androgens, their synthesis and metabolism, the interrelations of androgens and estrogens, as well as the state of art methods to detect and analyze these hormonal activities in medicinal plants are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Munyangaju Jose
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Edouard
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Guan-Wei
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Barnabas Bessem Orang
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Ojong
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences and State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
authors.forename: Ju
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Mei
authors.initials: XM
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine and Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center, 750 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111, USA. Electronic address: yanzhu.harvard@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000728:Androgens / Q000032:analysis / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000032:analysis / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D016711:Yang Deficiency / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal
keywords: Androgens; Kidney yang deficiency; Phytoandrogens; Yang-tonifying traditional Chinese herbs