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Year
2008
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October
2008
Goat weed can be a Potential Cure for Impotence
October 15, 2008
Low libido can be treated by the soft green heart-shaped
leaf of the horny goat weed instead of the common anti-impotence
pills Viagra. A new research as revealed that it could also
rekindle your sexual desire. The findings were based on an experiment
involving four plants used as natural aphrodisiacs in traditional
cultures.
The active compound of common anti-impotence
pills, sildenafil, works by inhibiting an enzyme, phosphodiesterase-5
(PDE5). Because PDE5 helps control blood flow to the penis, inhibiting
PDE5 promotes male erection.
The researchers tested the four plants in vitro to see how efficient
they
were inhibiting PDE5. They found out that just one -- Epimedium
brevicornum, known as horny
goat weed - had an effect. Sildenafil, however, is 80 times more
effective at inhibiting PDE5 than icariin.
So, the researchers extracted icariin from the plants, and produced
six modified versions of it, which they tested on PDE5 also. "The
most efficient of these, compound 5, works as well as Viagra.
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