Guanqun Wang^{1, 2}, Ju-Hwa Baek³, Ji Myung Choi⁴, Hyun Seok Choi⁴, Ki Tae Ha⁵, Min Jung Park^{3, 6,}, Bo Sun Joo^{3, 4,}

Paeonia lactiflora Pall (PL) with Astragalus membranaceus (AM) are herbs widely used in traditional herbal medicine formulations to alleviate female menopausal symptoms. However, there are no reports on the anti-menopausal effects of a mixture of PL and AM. This study aimed to investigate whether a combination of PL with AM exerts a synergistic effect in alleviating menopausal symptoms. The mixture of PL and AM (PLAM) was combined in a ratio of 1:4, and the effect was investigated at dose of 30 and 60 mg/kg body weight (BW) in ovariectomized (OVX) mice. Six OVX groups were administered orally once a day with distilled water (10 mL/kg), estradiol valerate (0.5 mg/ kg), PL (23.5 mg/kg), AM (77 mg/kg), PLAM (30 mg/kg and 60 mg/kg) for 8 weeks, respectively. One group served as a sham-operated control. PLAM significantly decreased the body weight, uterine atrophy, and aortic intima-media thickness, while increased uterine weight, estradiol production and bone formation compared to individual extracts of PL and AM. These effects were more pronounced at a high-dose of PLAM (60 mg/kg) than a low-dose (30 mg/kg). The results demonstrate that a high-dose of PLAM mixtures exerts the best synergistic effect for alleviating menopausal symptoms in mice, suggesting that PLAM can be applied as an effective new agent for treating menopausal symptoms.

Menopause, Symptoms, Paeonia lactiflora Pall, Astragalus membranaceus, Synergistic effect