Ginseng, sex behavior, and nitric oxide

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I recently came across a paper that shows promise for ginseng as an agent

reducing PSSD:

'Ginseng, sex behavior, and nitric oxide.

LL, Lee TJ.

Department of Physiology, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine,

Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA. lmurphy@...

In Asia, ginseng is commonly included in herbals used for the treatment of

sexual dysfunction. Recent studies in laboratory animals have shown that both

Asian and American forms of ginseng enhance libido and copulatory performance.

These effects of ginseng may not be due to changes in hormone secretion, but to

direct effects of ginseng, or its ginsenoside components, on the central nervous

system and gonadal tissues. Indeed, there is good evidence that ginsenosides can

facilitate penile erection by directly inducing the vasodilatation and

relaxation of penile corpus cavernosum. Moreover, the effects of ginseng on the

corpus cavernosum appear to be mediated by the release and/or modification of

release of nitric oxide from endothelial cells and perivascular nerves.

Treatment with American ginseng also affects the central nervous system and has

been shown to significantly alter the activity of hypothalamic catecholamines

involved in the facilitation of copulatory behavior and hormone secretion.

Recent findings that ginseng treatment decreased prolactin secretion also

suggested a direct nitric oxide-mediated effect of ginseng at the level of the

anterior pituitary. Thus, animal studies lend growing support for the use of

ginseng in the treatment of sexual dysfunction and provide increasing evidence

for a role of nitric oxide in the mechanism of ginsenoside action.'

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12076988