Arch Androl. 1995 May-Jun; 34(3): 151-6.

Magnolol protects human sperm motility against lipid peroxidation: a sperm head fixation method.

Lin MH, Chao HT, Hong CY.

Institute of Traditional Medicine, National Yang-Ming University Medical College, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

It was previously reported that magnolol, isolated from the Chinese medicinal herb Magnolia officinalis, had a potent inhibitory activity on lipid peroxidation. Since sperm motility could be suppressed by lipid peroxidation, this study examines the protective effect of magnolol on lipid peroxidation-suppressed sperm motility. FeSO4 was used to induced lipid peroxidation and sperm motility was expressed as tail beat frequency (TBF) measured with a sperm head fixation method. Magnolol at 10(-9) to 10(-7) M significantly reversed the FeSO4-suppressed TBF. Magnolol significantly inhibited the generation of malondialdehyde (MDA), the end product of lipid peroxidation, in sperm. Magnolol protected sperm motility by inhibiting lipid peroxidation in sperm.