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Inhibition of 5alpha-reductase in the rat prostate by Cimicifuga racemosa.

Seidlová-Wuttke D, Pitzel L, Thelen P, Wuttke W

Department of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, University of Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany.

OBJECTIVES: Prostate cancers and many thereof derived cell lines, as the LNCaP cells, grow androgen-dependent. In vivo testosterone is locally converted by 5alpha-reductase to 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (5alpha-DHT) which is the major androgenic principle in prostates and seminal vesicles. The occurrence of prostate cancer and growth of LNCaP cells can be effectively inhibited by finasteride, a synthetic 5alpha-reductase inhibitor and by a black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa, CR) extract. In the present contribution we tested whether the aqueous/ethanolic C. racemosa extract BNO 1055 contains 5alpha-reductase inhibitors. METHODS: Immature 24-day-old male rats were fed with testosterone (T)-containing food and injected with 30mg CR BNO 1055 or 0.5mg finasteride for 5 days. Average daily T-uptake was 39mg/animal. Other animals remained untreated or received vehicle injections only. RESULTS: In comparison to totally untreated rats the testosterone treatment increased weight of prostates and seminal vesicles 3-5-fold and this proliferation was largely and equipotently inhibited by finasteride and CR BNO 1055. 5alpha-Dihydrotestosterone concentrations in prostate tissue extracts were also reduced by both compounds and the testosterone-upregulated androgen receptor and insulin like growth factor I gene expression inhibited in the seminals vesicles. CONCLUSION: Taken together, these results indicate that the CR extract BNO 1055 contains one or more potent 5alpha-reductase inhibitors which may make this extract suitable for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer and possibly of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH).

Published 13 November 2006 in Maturitas, 55: S75-82.
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