Common Name          Epimedium or Horny Goat Weed

Latin Name 

Epimedium brevicornum Maxim.; Epimedium sagittatum (Siebold. et Zucc.) Epimedium koreanum Nakai.,Epimedium pubescens,Epimedium sinense, Epimedium wushanense T.S.Ying.

Chinese Name           Yin Yanghuo

Family                  Berberidaceae

Part of the Plant Used     Leaf (dried100% Natural)

Active Ingredients        

Icariins  (including  Icariin, Epimedin A, Epimedin B, Epimedin C and Epimedioside A)

Product Specification     Icariins 10% 20% 30% 40% 70% 90% 98%

Product Introduction

Epimedium, which is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Japanese “Kampo” to prepare a warming or “Yang” tonic for the kidney, has a broad range of therapeutic properties. Early in the Han Dynasty, it was recorded “cure impotence, ease penis pain, diuretic and strengthen the mind” in herbal classical literature. Since then, Epimedium has been widely used in TCM prescriptions. In the works China Codex, Epimedium was recorded as following: benefit the kidney, build up bones and muscles, and drive away rheumatism. It can cure impotence and spermatorrhea, ease body fatigue, relieve rheumatism pain and are good for hypertension in menopause.. Epimedium is grown as an ornamental herb in Asia and the Mediterranean region, and various species are used for medicinal purposes, including Epimedium sagittatum, Epimedium brevicornum, Epimedium koreanum, and Epimedium pubescens. The leaves of Epimedium contain a variety of flavonoids, polysaccharides, lignans, sesquiterpenes, phenolic and penethylol glycosides, ionones, sterols, and an alkaloid called Icariins.

HPLC Chromatogram of Epimedium Extract 30% Icariins ( 15% Icariin)

Physiological Functions

1. Effect on sex function. Epimedium has the function of aphrodisiac. It results in the hyperfunction of sperm excretion, and when the spermatophore is full, sensory nerve will be stimulated and sexual impulse will rise. Icariin increases male hormone level, which can obviously speed up the growth of epididymitis and spermatophore of mice. For the spermary Leydig's cell of test-tube mature rats, Icariin obviously accelerates the basic exudation of testosterone, which provides evidence for the treatment of male’s sterility with low level of testosterone.
2. Effect on immunity. Some experiments proved that Epimedium Flavone had the ingredient to expedite immunity function, to assist in the reaction of cell and body fluid immunity and to strengthen the phagocytosis function of macrophage. Epimedium Amylose can make immunity more activated and increase the number of antibody of spleen.
3. Anti-caducity. It was reported that Epimedium Amylose and Flavone could actively resume the function of repressive T and B lymphocyte, which relieved the backlog of fat metabolite of liver and could effectively reduce the fat content in liver. It was proved that Flavone and Amylose were the active ingredients to resist caducity.
4. Benefit cardiovascular system. The extract can lower blood pressure of rabbit, which concludes that Epimedium flavone plays an important role in cardiovascular system and provides a reliable theoretical evidence for clinical application.

Applications

Pharmaceutical stuff

Intermediate of the medicine

Toxicity Research

Epimedium Extract has low toxicity, LD50 value from mice (ip) is 36g/kg. There are no reports of adverse effects associated with the traditional preparation of Epimedium (water- extracted) at the suggested dosage (250 to 1,000mg per day).