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Since the days of Hippocrates, chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus) has been used for gynecological conditions. The Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) wrote, "If blood flows from the womb, let the woman drink dark wine in which the leaves of the chaste tree have been steeped." With a rich traditional of use, modern research supports herbaltreatment historical wisdom, and has made chaste tree fruit preparations a phytomedicine of choice by European gynecologists for treatment of various menstrual disorders, PMS, and other conditions. Chaste tree was associated with ancient Greek festivals. In the Thesmophoria, a festival held in honor of Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, fertility and marriage, women (who remained "chaste" during the festival), used chaste tree blossoms for adornment, while bows of twigs and leaves, were strewn around Demeter’s temple during herbaltreatment the festival. In Rome, vestal virgins carried twigs of chaste tree as a symbol of chastity. According to Greek mythology, Hera, sister and wife of Zeus, regarded as protectress of marriage, was born under a chaste tree Ancient traditions associating the shrub with chastity were adopted in Christian ritual. This constant dance of hormones orchestrates our fertility, a dance that changes throughout the month and throughout our lives. Of the millions herbaltreatment 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 herbaltreatment 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 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. 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 herbaltreatment the treatment of mastopathy, premenstrual syndrome herbaltreatment and luteal insufficiency-complaints herbaltreatment 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 herbaltreatment 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 of an ethanolic extract of the fruit of Vitex agnus-castus is recommended for the treatment of the premenstrual syndrome, luteal phase defects and other disturbances of the menstrual cycle, as well for the treatment of mastodynia .
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