Effects of vitex agnes castus on hormonal imbalances in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Sugantha Saul
In: International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology · 2017 · vol. 6(8) , pp. 2051 · doi:10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20173295 · W2738603844
article OA: diamond CC0
🔓 Open OA copy Full text JSON View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by gemini-2.5-flash-lite, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

This study induced PCOS in rats and found that Vitex agnus castus, rich in phytochemicals, was effective in reversing the adverse hormonal imbalances associated with the condition.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 · read from full text ⓘ

The study evaluated the effects of Vitex agnus castus on hormonal imbalance associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in an estradiol valerate–induced PCOS rat model, measuring reproductive and endocrine hormones across three groups. Using 8 mg estradiol valerate to induce PCOS in female albino rats, the authors assessed levels of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, estradiol, progesterone, and prolactin, alongside phytochemical analysis of Vitex agnus castus. The key findings were that Vitex agnus castus contained multiple phytochemicals and showed “positive” effects in reversing hormonal irregularities linked to PCOS in this model. The paper’s main limitation, as presented, is that it relies entirely on a pharmacologically induced animal model and does not clarify sample sizes or mechanistic pathways for the hormonal changes. The paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Background: The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrinopathies in women. Its incidence is assessed at 6-8% of the female population in the reproductive age. It is caused by an imbalance of the female sex hormones and higher levels of male hormones called androgens.Methods: In women with PCOS, the ovaries make more androgens than normal. High levels of these hormones affect the development and release of eggs during ovulation. Hence the hormonal imbalance were studied in three groups. In the present study ,8mg of estradiol valerate was used to induce PCOS in female albino rats. The levels of leutinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, Estradiol, Progesterone, and Prolaction were studied.Results: The phytochemical analysis of vitex agnus castus was carried out and the positive effects of vitex agnus castus on the hormonal irregularities of PCOS were also studied. The present findings indicated that vitex agnus castus was found to be rich in phytochemicals.Conclusions: The hormonal levels highly reflect the underlying hormonal imbalance in PCOS and the results obtained in the present study also proved that vitex agnus castus is more efficient in reversing the adverse effects of hormonal imbalance of PCOS.
Full text 4,067 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 5 sections · click to expand

Background

The polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrinopathies in women. Its incidence is assessed at 6-8% of the female population in the reproductive age. It is caused by an imbalance of the female sex hormones and higher levels of male hormones called androgens.

Methods

In women with PCOS, the ovaries make more androgens than normal. High levels of these hormones affect the development and release of eggs during ovulation. Hence the hormonal imbalance were studied in three groups. In the present study ,8mg of estradiol valerate was used to induce PCOS in female albino rats. The levels of leutinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, Estradiol, Progesterone, and Prolaction were studied.

Results

The phytochemical analysis of vitex agnus castus was carried out and the positive effects of vitex agnus castus on the hormonal irregularities of PCOS were also studied. The present findings indicated that vitex agnus castus was found to be rich in phytochemicals.

Conclusions

The hormonal levels highly reflect the underlying hormonal imbalance in PCOS and the results obtained in the present study also proved that vitex agnus castus is more efficient in reversing the adverse effects of hormonal imbalance of PCOS. Metrics

References

Wuttke W, Jarry H, Christoffel V, Spengler B, Seidlova WD. Chaste tree (Vitex agnus castus). Pharmacological and clinical indications, Phytomedicine. 2003;10:348-57. Gerhard I, Patek A, Monga B, Blank A. Gilling-Smith C, Story H, Rogers V, Franks S. Evidence for a primary abnormality of thecal cell steroidogenesis in the polycystic ovary syndrome. Clin Endocrinol. 1997a;47(1):93-9. Gulcin I. The antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of black pepper seed. J. Food Sci. Nutr. 2005;56(7):491-9. Brawer JR, Munoz M, Farookhi R. Development of the polycystic ovarian condition(PCO) in the estradiol valerate-treated rat. Biol. Reprod. 1986;35:647-55. Brawer JR, Naftolin J, Martin J, Sonnenschein C. Effects if a single injection of estradiol valerate on the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus and on reproductive function in the female rat. Endocrinology. 1978;103:501-12. Baird DT, Corker CS, Davidson DW, Hunter WM, Michie EA, Van Look PF. Pituitary-ovarian relationships in polycystic ovary syndrome. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 1977;45:798-801. McKenna TJ. Pathogenesis and treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome. N Engl J Med. 1988;318:558-62. Merz PG, Gorkow C, Schroedter A, Rietborch S, Sieder C, Loew D, et al. The effects of a special Agnus castus extract (BP1095E1) on prolactin secretion in healthy male subjects. Exp. Clin. Endocrinol. Diab. 1996;104:447-53. Gerhard I, Patek A, Monga B, Blank A, Gilling-Smith C, Story H, et al. Evidence for a primary abnormality of thecal cell steroidogenesis in the polycystic ovary syndrome. Clin Endocrinol. 1997a;47(1):93-9. Hadju A, Hohmann J, Forgo P, Martinek T, Dervarics M, Zupko I, et al. Deterpenoids and flavonoids from the fruits of vitex agnus castus and antioxidant activity of the fruit extracts and their constituents. Phytother. Res. 2007;21(4):391-4. Welschen R. Amounts of gonadotropins required for normal follicular growth in hypohysecomized adult rats. Act Endocrinol. 1973;72:137-55. McGuffin M, Hobbs C, Upton R, Goldberg A. Botanical Safety Handbook; CRC Press: Boca Raton; 1997:231. Amann W. Acne vulgaris and Agnus castus (Agnolyt®). Z. Allgemeinmed. 1975;51:1645-8. Agbaht K, Yerlikaya H, Demir O, Gullu S. Hyperprolactenemia in polycystic ovary syndrome. Endocrine Abstracts. 2009;20:653. Yi L, Lilan L, Haibo Z. Levels of lipid perioxides and superoxide dismutase in peritoneal fluid of patients with endometriosis. Journal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Medical Sciences. 2001 Jun 1;21(2):166-7.

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Citation neighborhood (sparse)

Too few in-corpus citations on either side for a chart; here are the lists.

Cites (1)

References (8)

Source provenance

openalex
last seen: 2026-05-11T03:27:27.593218+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK