Table 4.

The actions of herbal medicines for treating PCOS.

Actions	Interventions	Outcomes	Author (year)
Normalizing female hormone	<in vitro, in vivo> Atractylodes macrocephala koidz	LH ↓, FSH ↑, LH/FSH ↓ AMH ↓	Zhou et al. (2016)
	<in vivo> Chamomile	E2, LH, FSH ↓	Zangeneh et al. (2010)
	<in vivo> CHM1 & CHM2	LH/FSH ↓	Gu et al. (2015)
	<in vivo> Cryptotanshinone	LH ↓, FSH ↑, LH/FSH ratio ↓, P (-), E2 ↓	Xia et al. (2017)
		E2 (-), LH ↓, FSH (-), LH/FSH ↓	Yu Jang et al. (2014)
	<in vivo> Flaxseed	P ↑, E2 (-)	Jelodar et al. (2018)
	<in vivo> Ginger	LH ↓, FSH ↑, E ↓, P ↑	Atashpour et al. (2017)
	<in vivo> Heqi san	LH ↓, E2 (-)	Zhao et al. (2017)
	<in vivo> IMOD	P ↑, E2 ↑	Rezvanfar et al. (2012)
	<in vivo> Kyung-Ok-Ko	E2 ↓, P (-)	Jang Jang et al. (2014)
	<in vitro, in vivo> XYS	LH ↓, E2 (-), P ↑	Sun et al. (2017)
Diminishing male hormone	<in vitro, in vivo> Atractylodes macrocephala koidz	T ↓, SHBG (-), free androgen index ↓, androstenedione ↓,	Zhou et al. (2016)
	<in vivo> CHM1 & CHM2	Free androgen index ↓, androstenedione ↓	Gu et al. (2015)
	<in vivo> Cryptotanshinone	T ↓	Xia et al. (2017)
		T ↓, androstenedione ↓, SHBG ↑	Jang et al. (2014)
		Androstenedione ↓, T ↓	Yang et al. (2011)
	<in vivo> Flaxseed	T ↓, Dehydroepiandrosterone (-)	Jelodar et al. (2018)
	<in vivo> Heqi san	T ↓	Zhao et al. (2017)
	<in vivo> IMOD	T ↓	Rezvanfar et al. (2012)
Recovery of the estrous cycle	<in vitro, in vivo> Aloe vera gel	Recovery of estrous cycle	Maharjan et al. (2010)
	<in vitro, in vivo> Atractylodes macrocephala koidz	Recovery of estrous cycle	Zhou et al. (2016)
	<in vivo> CHM1 & CHM2	Recovery of estrous cycle	Gu et al. (2015)
	<in vivo> Cocus nucifera flower	Recovery of estrous cycle	Soumya et al. (2014)
	<in vivo> Cryptotanshinone	Normalization of estrous cycle	Xia et al. (2017)
		Recovery of estrous cycle	Yu et al. (2014) (Jang et al., 2014)
		Recovery of estrous cycle	Yang et al. (2011)
	<in vivo> IMOD	Recovery of the estrous cycle	Rezvanfar et al. (2012)
	<in vivo> Kyung-Ok-Ko	Recovery of estrous cycle	Lee et al. (2016)
	<in vivo> Kyung-Ok-Ko	Recovery of estrous cycle	Jang et al. (2014)
	<in vivo> Quercetin	Recovery of estrous cycle	Wang et al. (2017)
	<in vitro, in vivo> XYS	Recovery of estrous cycle	Sun et al. (2017)
Ameliorating insulin resistance	<in vivo> Aloe vera gel	OGTT profile improvement	Desai et al. (2012)
	<in vivo> Bushen Tongmai Recipe	Fasting blood glucose (-) Serum fasting insulin ↓ Insulin sensitive index ↑	Li et al. (2010)
	<in vivo> Cryptotanshinone	OGTT profile improvement	Yang et al. (2011)
	<in vivo> Heqi san	Insulin resistance ↓	Zhao et al. (2017)
	<in vivo> Labisia pumila var. alata	Insulin sensitivity ↑ (glucose infusion rate ↑) Plasma glucose (-)	Mannerås et al. (2010)
	<in vivo> Quercetin	Insulin ↓, IAUC ↓, FBG ↓ Insulin resistance ↓	Wang et al. (2017)
Lipid metabolism improvement	<in vivo> Aloe vera gel	Plasma levels of TC ↓, TG ↓, HDL-C ↑, LDL-C ↓ Liver cholesterol ↓ Activity of HMG-CoA reductase ↓ Activity of LCAT (-)	Desai et al. (2012)
	<in vivo> Cocus nucifera flower	TC ↓, VLDL-C ↓, HDL-C ↑, TG ↓	Soumya et al. (2014)
	<in vivo> Labisia pumila var. alata	TC ↓, TG ↓, HDL-C (-), LDL-C (-) Resistin ↑, adiponectin (-), leptin (-) mRNA expression of leptin in mesenteric adipose tissue ↓ mRNA expression of resistin and adiponectin in mesenteric adipose tissue (-)	Mannerås et al. (2010)

AMH, Anti-Müllerian hormone; CHM, Chinese herbal medicine; E, Estrogen; E2, Estradiol; FBG, Fasting blood glucose; FSH, Follicle-stimulating hormone; HDL-C, High density lipoprotein cholesterol; HMG-CoA, β-Hydroxy β-methylglutaryl-CoA; IAUC, Area under the curve of blood insulin release; LCAT, Lecithin–cholesterol acyltransferase; LDL-C, Low density lipoprotein cholesterol; LH, Luteinising hormone; OGTT, Oral glucose tolerance test; P, Progesterone; SHBG, Sex hormone-binding globulin; TC, Total cholesterol; TG, Triglyceride; VLDL-C, Very low density cholesterol; XYS, Xiao-Yao-San.