Analysis of fluorescence spectra from Chinese herbal medicine for male infertility.

To clarify the contribution of Chinese herbal medicine to the treatment of male infertility, fluorescence spectra from Chinese herbal drugs at 500-700 nm with 488 nm excitation were investigated. The fluorescence spectra patterns from Hachimi-jio-gan, Gosha-jinki-gan and Hochuekki-to were similar to those from semen, seminal plasma and spermatozoa. Our previous report revealed that the concentration of spermatozoa correlated with the intensity of the emission peaks from spermatozoa, while sperm motility correlated with the emission peaks from spermatozoa and semen plasma. Thus, it was suggested that the components of these fluorescence productions in Chinese herbal medicine may contribute to clinical effects for male infertility.