Pharmacological study on Samia cynthia ricini in old female mice.

The effect of the extraction from female moths Samia cynthia ricini (family Saturniidae) on menopausal syndrome was studied in order to search for an effective traditional Chinese medicine to menopausal syndrome and offer a theoretical support for the further research on Samia cynthia ricini. Aged, nonreproductive female mice was used as the model and randomly divided into three groups: control, ethanol extraction group and diethylstilbestrol (DES) group according to the medicine applied. After 4 weeks of treatment, keratinization rates of vagina epithelia, indexes of organs, serum concentrations of estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P), the bone mineral contents (BMC) and the morphological changes of ovary and uterus were measured. And the fingerprint of the extracts was obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results showed that the moth extraction could obviously accelerate the keratinization of aged mice's vagina epithelia, increase the weight of the ovary and ameliorate its degenerative process. It could also, to some extent, increase the serum concentrations of estradiol, progesterone concentrations as well as the bone mineral contents. Furthermore, there is no obvious side effect detected on immune system in our research. The extraction from female moths Samia cynthia ricini could ameliorate the menopause symptom of aged female mice and thus be a potential remedy for it.