Research in Animals
T. terrestris has been shown to enhance sexual behavior in an animal model. It appears to do so by stimulating androgen receptors in the brain.T. terrestris is now being promoted as a booster for the purpose of increasing sex drive. Its use for this purpose originated from a Bulgarian study conducted in the 1970s, which found effects on free testosterone and luteinizing hormone in men belonging to infertile couples. A research review conducted in 2000 stated that the lack of data outside of this study prevents generalizing to healthy individuals
Animal studies in rats, rabbits and primates have demonstrated that administration of Tribulus terrestris extract can produce statistically significant increases in levels of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone, and produces effects suggestive of aphrodisiac activity. On the other hand, one recent study found that T. terrestris caused no increase in testosterone or LH in young men, and another found that a commercial supplement containing androstenedione and herbal extracts, including T. terrestris, was no more effective at raising testosterone levels than androstenedione alone.
The active chemical in T. terrestris is likely to be protodioscin (PTN). In a study with mice, T. terrestris was shown to enhance mounting activity and erection better than testosterone cypionate; however, testosterone cypionate is a synthetic ester of testosterone engineered for its longer activity, rather than an immediate effect. Testosterone cypionate has a half-life of 8 days and is administered every 2–4 weeks in humans for testosterone replacement. The proerectile aphrodisiac properties were concluded to likely be due to the release of nitric oxide from the nerve endings innervating the corpus cavernosum penis. Also, T. terrestris was shown to have strong inhibitory activity on COX-2.
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