LEts sees...
Dosed 5 caps at 3 pm.
3:15 pm noticed a funny feeling in my head. Slight buzz almost. 3:30 this turned into a focus and definately stimulating. Like whole body stimulating. Just after that I ate 60 grams of protein, 60 grams carbs, and 15g fat meal. I got to the gym about 4 and lifting slightly there after.
Strength: Can't make any note here. This is my second week back after a contest and taking a week off....first day doing this specific exercises for DC.
Focus: focus was very good. I was zoned in for sure. Note: my drive to the gym was weird...its like I should not have been driving cause all i was doing was looking ahead and not paying attention to my pheripherals!
-Definate thermo effect. I felt warm, quite warm all over within 20 min of taking 5 caps. More so than any other fat burner (stim x, venom, scorch, basic cuts)
-Energy was good, but my drive to lift was the best. Endurance seemed up as well.
-Feeling of muscle fullness was evident, I was very surprised here. I don't understand how that worked, it was like a muscle pump within 20 min of taking it and I was just sitting around.....
-Incread vascularity.
All in all a really good experience. I can see how this has potential to really set some big arse PR's!:bb:
Sign me up!
r- the pump is caused by PDE5 inhibition- icariin works very similarly to Viagra in this regard
Asian J Androl. 2005 Dec;7(4):381-8.Click here to read Links
Effects of icariin on erectile function and expression of nitric oxide synthase isoforms in castrated rats.
* Liu WJ,
* Xin ZC,
* Xin H,
* Yuan YM,
* Tian L,
* Guo YL.
Andrology Center of Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100009, China.
AIM: To investigate the effect of icariin on erectile function and the expression of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms in castrated rats. METHODS: Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into one sham-operated group (A) and three castrated groups (B, C and D). One week after surgery, rats were treated with normal saline (groups A and B) or oral icariin (1 mg/[kg.day] for group C and 5 mg/[kg.day] for group D) for 4 weeks. One week after treatment, the erectile function of the rats was assessed by measuring intracavernosal pressure (ICP) during electrostimulation of the cavernosal nerve. T
he serum testosterone (ST) levels, the percent of smooth muscle (PSM) in trabecular tissue, and the expression of mRNA and proteins of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and phosphodiesterase V (PDE5) in corpus cavernosum (CC) were also evaluated. RESULTS: ICP, PSM, ST and the expression of nNOS, iNOS, eNOS and PDE5 were significantly decreased in group B compared with those in group A (P 0.01). However, ICP, PSM and the expression of nNOS and iNOS were increased in groups C and D compared with those in group B (P 0.05). Changes in ST and the expression of eNOS and PDE5 were not significant (P 0.05) in groups C and D compared with those in group B. CONCLUSION: Oral treatment with icariin ( 98.6 % purity) for 4 weeks potentially improves erectile function. This effect is correlated with an increase in PSM and the expression of certain NOS in the CC of castrated rats. These results suggest that icariin may have a therapeutic effect on erectile dysfunction.
Urology. 2006 Dec;68(6):1350-4.Click here to read Links
Effects of icariin on phosphodiesterase-5 activity in vitro and cyclic guanosine monophosphate level in cavernous smooth muscle cells.
* Ning H,
* Xin ZC,
* Lin G,
* Banie L,
* Lue TF,
* Lin CS.
Knuppe Molecular Urology Laboratory, Department of Urology, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, San Francisco, California 94115, USA.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of icariin on the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-hydrolytic activity of phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) isoforms and the cGMP levels in cavernous smooth muscle cells treated with sodium nitroprusside (SNP). METHODS: PDE5 isoforms (PDE5A1, A2, and A3) were isolated from sf9 insect cells infected with baculoviruses carrying PDE5 isoform cDNA. Icariin was isolated from Epimedii herba. Varying amounts (10(-6) to 10(-11) M) of icariin or zaprinast were added to reaction mixtures containing PDE5 isoforms and cGMP. The inhibitory effects of icariin and zaprinast were analyzed by GraphPad Software and are expressed as concentration that inhibits 50% (IC50) values. Cavernous smooth muscle cells were isolated from 3-month-old rats, treated with icariin (100 and 200 microM) or zaprinast (200 microM) for 15 minutes, and then with 10 microM SNP for 30, 60, 120, 240, and 360 minutes. The cells were then analyzed for the cGMP concentration using an enzyme immunoassay system. RESULTS: Icariin inhibited PDE5A1, A2, and A3 with an IC50 value of 1.0, 0.75, and 1.1 microM, respectively. The corresponding IC50 values for zaprinast were 0.33, 0.23, and 0.32 microM. Icariin consistently outperformed the control (SNP-only treatment) in maintaining greater cGMP levels, particularly at the greater concentration of 200 microM. In contrast, zaprinast at 200 microM did better than the control only at 60 and 360 minutes. CONCLUSIONS:
Icariin was inhibitory to all three PDE5 isoforms with similar IC50 values, which were approximately three times greater than those for zaprinast. Icariin was able to enhance cGMP levels in SNP-treated cavernous smooth muscle cells.
J Huazhong Univ Sci Technolog Med Sci. 2006;26(4):460-2.
Effect of icariin on cyclic GMP levels and on the mRNA expression of cGMP-binding cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE5) in penile cavernosum.
* Jiang Z,
* Hu B,
* Wang J,
* Tang Q,
* Tan Y,
* Xiang J,
* Liu J.
Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
To further investigate the mechanisms of action of icariin (ICA), we assessed the effects of ICA on the in vitro formation of cGMP and cAMP in isolated rabbit corpus cavernosum. Isolated segments of rabbit corpus cavernosum were exposed to increasing concentrations of ICA and the dose-dependent accumulation of cGMP and cAMP was determined in the tissues samples by means of 125I radioimmunoassay.
Responses of the isolated tissues preparations to ICA were compared with those obtained with the reference compounds sildenafil (Sild). Furthermore, the effects of ICA on the mRNA expression of specific cGMP-binding phosphodiesterase type V (PDE5) in rat penis were also observed. After incubation with ICA for 6 h or 14 h respectively, the levels of PDE5 mRNA were examined by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed that ICA increased cGMP concentrations directly (P < 0.05), but there was no significant effect on cAMP concentrations (P > 0.05).
In the presence of sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a stimulatory agent of cGMP, both ICA and Sild increased cGMP concentrations with increasing dose (P < 0.01). Their EC50 was 4.62 (ICA) and 0.42 (Sild) micromol/L respectively. There were PDE5A1 and PDE5A2 mRNA expressions in rat corpus cavernosum with PDE5A2 being the dominant isoform. ICA could obviously inhibit these two isoforms mRNA expression in rat penis, and decrease PDE5A1 more pronouncedly (P < 0.01). The present study indicated that the aphrodisiac mechanisms of icariin involved the NO-cGMP signal transduction pathway, with increasing cGMP levels in the corpus cavernosum smooth muscle. The inhibitory effect of icariin on PDE5 mRNA expression, especially on PDE5A1, might account for its molecular mechanisms for its long-term activity.