Chinese Medicine As Complementary Therapy for Female Infertility

Overview

Journal Chin J Integr Med

Date 2016 Aug 4

PMID 27484764

Citations 22

Authors

Ju-Feng Xia

Yoshinori Inagaki

Jian-Feng Zhang

Ling Wang

Pei-Pei Song

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Chinese medicine (CM) has been used in clinical treatment for thousands of years in China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. CM is at present attracting many attentions around the world for reproductive health care and disease prevention, including treatment of female infertility. This review focuses on the CM treatment for female infertility patients, and supplies a summary on the efficacy, safety, and mechanism of some Chinese herbal medicines, herbal medicine-derived active compounds, and acupuncture. A large number of researches have reported that CM could alleviate or even cure female infertility by regulating hormone, improving reproductive outcome of in vivo fertilization, affecting embryonic implantation, curing polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, relieving mental stress, and regulating immune system. Meanwhile, a few studies claimed that there was little adverse reaction of CM in randomized controlled trials. However, up to present there is a lack of adequate evidences with molecular mechanistic researches and randomized controlled trials to prove the CM as an effective and safe treatment for infertility. Thus, utility of CM as a complementary medicine will be a feasible method to improve the outcome of female infertility treatment.

Citing Articles

The Prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use among Infertile Patients: A Global Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Sharifi F, Jamali J, Latifnejad Roudsari R Int J Fertil Steril. 2024; 18(4):314-322.

PMID: 39564821 PMC: 11589981. DOI: 10.22074/ijfs.2024.2005352.1482.

Neutral effect of Zishen Yutai Pill on frozen-thawed embryo transfer: a propensity score matching study.

Yang X, Cai J, Jiang L, Jiang X, Liu Z, Chen J Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024; 15:1379590.

PMID: 39268234 PMC: 11390590. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1379590.

A Survey of Utilization and Satisfaction of Korean Subfertility Treatment among Korean Women.

Park M, Shin S, Kim J, Kim J, Kim D, Sung S Healthcare (Basel). 2024; 12(16).

PMID: 39201159 PMC: 11353467. DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12161600.

Efficacy of acupuncture in animal models of various ovarian dysfunctions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Zhao Y, Lan Y, Liu L, Hao J, Wang H, Ji L Front Med (Lausanne). 2024; 11:1348884.

PMID: 38966526 PMC: 11222413. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1348884.

Quercetin and Ferulic Acid Elicit Estrogenic Activities In Vivo and In Silico.

Slighoua M, Amrati F, Chebaibi M, Mahdi I, Al Kamaly O, El Ouahdani K Molecules. 2023; 28(13).

PMID: 37446770 PMC: 10343488. DOI: 10.3390/molecules28135112.

References

Roa J, Herbison A . Direct regulation of GnRH neuron excitability by arcuate nucleus POMC and NPY neuron neuropeptides in female mice. Endocrinology. 2012; 153(11):5587-99. DOI: 10.1210/en.2012-1470. View

Ushiroyama T, Yokoyama N, Hakukawa M, Sakuma K, Ichikawa F, Yoshida S . Clinical efficacy of macrophage-activating Chinese mixed herbs (MACH) in improvement of embryo qualities in women with long-term infertility of unknown etiology. Am J Chin Med. 2012; 40(1):1-10. DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X12500012. View

Martin-Liberal J . Leiomyosarcoma: Principles of management. Intractable Rare Dis Res. 2014; 2(4):127-9. PMC: 4204552. DOI: 10.5582/irdr.2013.v2.4.127. View

Usadi R, Merriam K . On-label and off-label drug use in the treatment of female infertility. Fertil Steril. 2015; 103(3):583-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2015.01.011. View

Huang S, Chen G, Lo H, Lin J, Lee Y, Kuo C . Increase in the vagal modulation by acupuncture at neiguan point in the healthy subjects. Am J Chin Med. 2005; 33(1):157-64. DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X0500276X. View

Propst A, Bates Jr G . Evaluation and treatment of anovulatory and unexplained infertility. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2012; 39(4):507-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.ogc.2012.09.008. View

Mascarenhas M, Flaxman S, Boerma T, Vanderpoel S, Stevens G . National, regional, and global trends in infertility prevalence since 1990: a systematic analysis of 277 health surveys. PLoS Med. 2012; 9(12):e1001356. PMC: 3525527. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001356. View

Dieterle S, Ying G, Hatzmann W, Neuer A . Effect of acupuncture on the outcome of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection: a randomized, prospective, controlled clinical study. Fertil Steril. 2006; 85(5):1347-51. DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2005.09.062. View

Wang C, Cheng L, Zhang Z, Yuan Z . Imaging diagnosis of hepatic ectopic pregnancy: A report of one case. Intractable Rare Dis Res. 2014; 1(1):40-4. PMC: 4204586. DOI: 10.5582/irdr.2012.v1.1.40. View

10.

Weiss R, Clapauch R . Female infertility of endocrine origin. Arq Bras Endocrinol Metabol. 2014; 58(2):144-52. DOI: 10.1590/0004-2730000003021. View

11.

Thorner M, Besser G, Jones A, Dacie J, Jones A . Bromocriptine treatment of female infertility: report of 13 pregnancies. Br Med J. 1975; 4(5998):694-7. PMC: 1675785. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.4.5998.694. View

12.

Zeng G, Han X, Yu J, Wang Y, Tian Z . Effect of Nourishing "Yin" Removing "Fire" Chinese Herbal Mixture on Hypothalamic Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Expression during Onset of Puberty in Female Rats. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015; 2015:157846. PMC: 4589583. DOI: 10.1155/2015/157846. View

13.

Desai B, Maharjan R, Nampoothiri L . Aloe barbadensis Mill. formulation restores lipid profile to normal in a letrozole-induced polycystic ovarian syndrome rat model. Pharmacognosy Res. 2012; 4(2):109-15. PMC: 3326757. DOI: 10.4103/0974-8490.94736. View

14.

Tang W, Hu Y, He X . [Acupuncture Stimulation of Acupoints of Multiple Meridians for Patients with Diminished Ovarian Reserve of Both Yin and Yang Deficiency]. Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2016; 40(6):479-83, 488. View

15.

Chen X, Liu Y, Deng Y, Yuan B, Li Y, Ren X . Hemorheological study and treatment with enema retention of Li Chong Tang combined with moxibustion in women suffering from chronic pelvic inflammatory diseases. Pak J Pharm Sci. 2015; 28(4 Suppl):1465-9. View

16.

Stener-Victorin E, Waldenstrom U, ANDERSSON S, Wikland M . Reduction of blood flow impedance in the uterine arteries of infertile women with electro-acupuncture. Hum Reprod. 1996; 11(6):1314-7. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.humrep.a019378. View

17.

Jiang D, Zhang Y, Wu X, Wu S . [Infertility in polycystic ovary syndrome treated with acupuncture and clomiphene: a randomized controlled trial]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2015; 35(2):114-8. View

18.

Zhao H, Chen B . Evaluation of electroacupuncture on ovariectomized rats: implications of modern scientific mechanisms on acupuncture curing woman perimenopausal syndrome. Acupunct Electrother Res. 2006; 30(3-4):275-88. DOI: 10.3727/036012905815901262. View

19.

Chung C, Lee M, Chu P, Yen Y . Case report: Occurrence of fallopian tube cancer in a patient with previous history of estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Biosci Trends. 2010; 3(5):200-1. View

20.

Liu Y, Yi X, Zhuang Y, Zhang S . Limitations in the process of transcription and translation inhibit recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin expression in CHO cells. J Biotechnol. 2014; 204:63-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2014.12.005. View