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The use in disturbances of the female genital system was first reported more than two thousand years ago. Nowadays ethanolic extracts from the fruit are used for the treatment of mastopathy, premenstrual syndrome and luteal insufficiency-complaints caused by a mild or latent hyperprolactinemia. The mode of action of Vitex agnus-castus extracts was studied in vitro using primary cultures from rat pituitaries as a test system. A dose dependent reduction of prolactin secretion was observed. The effect could be blocked by the dopamine-receptor antagonist, haloperidol, confirming a dopamine agonistic activity of the drug. The prolactin lowering effect of Vitex agnus-castus was also found in in vivo experiments in rats. Clinical studies in patients with premenstrual syndrome, luteal insufficiency, and mastopathy show a simultaneous decrease in the clinical syndrome score and prolactin levels. In the monograph of the Commission E, a daily dosage of 30-40mg herbalmedications of an ethanolic extract of the fruit of Vitex agnus-castus is recommended herbalmedications for the treatment of the premenstrual syndrome, luteal phase defects and other disturbances of the menstrual cycle, as well for the treatment of mastodynia herbalmedications . This constant dance of hormones orchestrates our fertility, a dance that changes throughout the month herbalmedications and throughout our lives. Of the millions of follicles (eggs) in the ovaries, eight to ten mature each month. But, in most cases, only one reaches the point that it ruptures and releases an egg (ovulation). The unused follicles die. After ovulation, the ruptured follicle reconnects and continues to grow, becoming the corpus luteum. In preparation for fertilization, it produces estrogen and progesterone to create an extra lining in the uterus. But after about 12 days, if no fertilization occurs, the corpus luteum dies, and estrogen and progesterone levels plunge. This causes the lining to be expelled. Menstruation begins. Hormonally, a woman''s period marks the end of the menstrual cycle. A new cycle begins when the hypothalamus, in response to the dramatic herbalmedications drop in estrogen and progesterone levels at the end of the last cycle, sends GnRh (another hormone) to the pituitary, which then releases a new batch of follicle stimulating hormones (FSH) to the ovaries. This stimulates the maturation of a small group of follicles.
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