Improvement in sperm quality and function with French maritime pine tree bark extract.
Roseff SJ1.
Author information
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
To determine the effects of Pycnogenol (French maritime pine tree bark extract) on sperm parameters and function in subfertile men.
STUDY DESIGN:
Prospective, nonrandomized, clinical study in a private infertility practice. Nineteen subfertile men were given 200 mg Pycnogenol daily orally for 90 days. Semen samples were analyzed before and after treatment for sperm count, motility score and strict morphology before and after capacitation, and mannose receptor binding.
RESULTS:
The mean sperm morphology following Ham's F-10 capacitation increased by 38% following Pycnogenol treatment, and the mannose receptor binding assay scores improved by 19%.
CONCLUSION:
Pycnogenol therapy resulted in improved capacitated sperm morphology and mannose receptor binding. The increase in morphologically and functionally normal sperm may allow couples diagnosed with teratozoospermia to forgo in vitro fertilization and either experience improved natural fertility or undergo less invasive and less expensive fertility-promoting procedures, such as intrauterine insemination.
CoQ10 is present in seminal fluid and its concentration has a direct impact on sperm count and motility. The effect of CoQ10 on sperm motility and function had been addressed only through in vitro experiments until a group of Italian researchers did two studies on infertile men. CoQ10 increased significantly both in seminal plasma and sperm cells after treatment, as well as spermatozoa motility.
Patients with lower CoQ10 levels and lower motility had a stronger response to the treatment, leading researchers to conclude that CoQ10 supplements help increase CoQ10 levels in semen and improve sperm motility in infertile men.2
Researchers at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran, recruited 212 infertile men and randomly assigned them to receive a daily CoQ10 supplement or placebo for 26 weeks. This was followed by 30 weeks with no intervention.
The study, which appears in the current issue of Journal of Urology (July 2009), found that there was significant improvement in sperm counts, density and motility in infertile men, after they took 300 mg of CoQ10 for 56 weeks.
Author Mohammad Reza Safarinejad wrote that the statistically significant but modest results of the study suggest that CoQ10 may have potential clinical applications in infertile men. The researcher called for further studies to evaluate if CoQ10 supplementation may play a role in achieving pregnancy in infertile couples.3
In a recent study at the Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy, 60 infertile men between the ages of 27 and 39 were given a daily dose of 200 mg of CoQ10 or placebo for 6 months, with a 3-month follow-up. CoQ10 increased significantly in both seminal plasma and sperm cells after treatment. It also improved sperm motility.4
Conclusion
CoQ10 has a proven track record of supporting heart health. Now, men with fertility issues can also feel confident that CoQ10 supplementation can help support their chances of having a child.
