Common cnidium fruit is annual herb, 30-80cm high.The leaf is alternate,compundumbel inflorescence. Cremocarp, ellipsoidal, 2-4mm long, about 2mm in diameter. Externally greyish-yellow or greyish-brown; with 2outcurved stylopods at the summit, and sometimes with a fine fruit stalk at the base. Dorsal surface of mericarps with five thin and longitudinal ridges, commissural surface flattened, with two brown and slightly raised longitudinal ribs. Pericarp lax and fragile, easily rubbed off, seed small, greyish-brown and oily. Odour, aromatic; taste, pungent, cool and numb.
 

Common Cnidium Fruit
 

Chemical Constituents of Common Cnidium Extract:

Coumarin compounds such as Osthole and Imperatorin as well as Xanthotoxin (Methoxsalen). Isopimpinellin, and Bergapten have also been identified Hydrated berries of Cnidii have concentrations around 1.67-2.88% osthole.

Common cnidium extract is widely used in fields of health products. The following are its functions in men's health:

Common Cnidium Extract for Skeletal Muscle

Osthole has been implicated in increasing AMPK-mediated glucose uptake into myocytes (both C2C12 and L6) in dose and time dependent manners, although tested mostly at 12.5-50uM and also affects hepatocytes to a less potent extent. Incubation of muscle cells with 12.5uM and 50uM increases glucose uptake via GLUT4 translocation induced by AMPK by 1.6 and 2-fold; respectively. These effects on AMPK may be due to shifting the AMP:ATP ratio, as osthole seems to deplete ATP and elevate relative amounts of AMP, which is known to be the lead inducer of skeletal muscle AMPK.Osthole was known to be anti-glycemic in vivo at 50mg/kg prior to the discovery of AMPK interactions, and was mimicked in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice at 100mg/kg osthole orally for 8 weeks.

Osthole apparently may also phosphorylate (activate) Akt, and the downstream proteins of AS160 and GSK3; another mechanism by which GLUT4 may be increased.

Common Cnidium Extract for Erections

Common cnidium fruit is, supposedly, a frequently prescribed herb among Chinese Medicine practitioners for male impotence. It has traditionally been used for treatment of male erections (or the lack thereof) alongside Epimedium Sagittatum (related to Horny Goat Weed) and the plant Semen Cuscutae.

When examined in vitro on corpus cavernosum (penis wall) muscles, the bioactive ingredient Osthole appears to be able to cause muscular relaxation (pro-erectile) in a dose-dependent manner. The mechanism may be via phosphodiesterase inhibition, as osthole appears to potentiate cGMP induced relaxation as well as nitric oxide. These effects are common to all coumarins in common cnidium extract, with Imperatorin being requiring the lowest concentration to be effective.

There may also be central (brain) effects as well, due to the ability of osthole to induce glutaminergic neurotransmission (see Neurology section).

Not yet studied in humans, but has traditional usage of being an erection promoting herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine and appears to be active on both the penis tissues and the brain in similar manners to Viagra.

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