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Effect of Elevated CO2 Conditions on Medicinal Plants
Published in Azamal Husen, Environmental Pollution and Medicinal Plants, 2022
Anuj Choudhary, Antul Kumar, Harmanjot Kaur, Mandeep Singh, Gurparsad Singh Suri, Gurleen Kaur, Sahil Mehta
Due to anticancerous, antiviral, and diuretic properties, Catharanthus roseus is an important medicinal plant. In an experiment in which the Catharanthus plant was treated with higher carbon dioxide levels, there was an elevation in most secondary metabolites in the plant, including phenolics, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannin (Yang et al. 2018). It was studied that, with e[CO2], Zingiber officinale showed enhancement in flavonoid and phenolic content (Ghasemzadeh et al. 2018). In Quercus ilicifolia, elevated carbon dioxide increased flavonoid and phenolic contents (Kumar et al. 2017). It was reported that enhanced content of phenols and flavonoids subsequently incremented to phenylalanine (primary metabolite), which acts as a metabolic precursor in the formation of many secondary metabolites. Other studies carried out on Labisia pumila by Ibrahim et al. (2014) also showed elevated levels of flavonoids and phenols under higher carbon dioxide levels. In addition, in the medicinal plant Pseudotsuga manziesii, there was a sudden decline in monoterpenes under e[CO2] conditions (Snow et al. 2003).
Herbal Therapies
Published in Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Surya Prakash Gautam, Herbal Product Development, 2020
H. Shahrul, M. L. Tan, A. H. Auni, S. R. Nur, S. M. N. Nurul
Kacip Fatimah or its scientific name Labisia pumila, also known by the locals as Selusuh Fatimah, Rumput Siti Fatimah, Akar Fatimah, Pokok Pinggang, and Belangkas Hutan (Ali et al., 2010). Labisia pumila var. alata is traditionally consumed by the Malay women to maintain healthy female reproductive function and as postpartum medicine in the form of water extract (Abdullah et al., 2013). This is due to the presence of phytoestrogens that acts as primary female sex hormone (Abdullah et al., 2013). Several reports have demonstrated the estrogenic activity of L. pumila. The water extract of L. pumila has the ability to displace estradiol and bind to antibodies raised against estradiol (Wahab et al., 2011). Apart from that, L. pumila is suggested as a potential alternative agent for hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women (Abdul Kadir et al., 2012). Findings suggested it resembled the effect of estrogen in the ovariectomised rats (Wahab et al., 2011). It also causes increase in the level of estrogen and testosterone levels. In contrast, it suppresses follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). These abilities may be contributed due to presence of triterpene, saponins, and ardisiacrispin A (Avula et al., 2010). However, these activities have only been studied in vitro using cell and animal model studies. These findings require further investigation in order to be applicable to humans since L. pumila as an alternative treatment for estrogen deficient or postmenopausal-related diseases.
Effect of Artichoke (cynara scolymus) on cardiac markers, lipid profile and antioxidants levels in tissue of HFD-induced obesity
Published in Archives of Physiology and Biochemistry, 2022
Maryem Ben Salem, Hanen Affes, Raouia Dhouibi, Slim Charfi, Mouna Turki, Serria Hammami, Fatma Ayedi, Zouheir Sahnoun, Khaled Mounir Zeghal, Kamilia Ksouda
LDH activity in blood is examined to be a sensitive marker of myocardial infarction (Apple et al. 2003). CK, another important enzyme in energy metabolism in the body, maintains the high concentration of intracellular ATP through phosphorylation and is considered as another important index for atherosclerosis (Apple and Collinson 2012). In pathological conditions, these enzymes, leak from the necrotic heart cells to blood, which are important measuring markers of cardiac injury. The results of the present study showed that serum LDH and CPK levels were significantly increased in HFD groups when compared to the control groups. In the histology study, heart tissue of HFD-fed rats showed vascular congestion in the myocardial cells as compared to control rat’s heart tissue, which showed normal architecture with regular morphology of myocardial cell. However, the treatment with ethanol extract exhibited a significant decrease in cardiac markers as compared with HFD groups which confirmed by moderate protection of vascular congestion as compared to ATOR groups in heart tissue. Our results were in agreement with the studies of Dianita et al. (2016), who showed histological disruption of the heart in HFD rats for 4 weeks of treatment. However, administration of Labisia pumila var alata extract reduced cardiac damage in untreated female rats-HFD.
Inhibition of CYP2C9 by natural products: insight into the potential risk of herb-drug interactions
Published in Drug Metabolism Reviews, 2020
Kai Wang, Qing Gao, Tingting Zhang, Jinqiu Rao, Liqin Ding, Feng Qiu
In addition to the above described common types of naturally occurring compounds, there are some natural products with rare structural characteristics that also act as CYP2C9 inhibitors (Figure 2). Kavalactones, including desmethoxyyangonin (DMY), methysticin (M) and dihydromethysticin (DHM), have been reported to result in significant inhibition of CYP2C9. The most potent inhibitors, M and DHM, have a methylenedioxyphenyl moiety that is usually present in the structures of many of the alkaloids described above and could form metabolic intermediate complexes with a maximum absorption of 455 nm after incubation with HLMs and NADPH (Mathews et al. 2002). Many other types of polyphenolic compounds were also determined to be strong CYP2C9 inhibitors, such as the chalcones xanthohumol and phloretin (Yuan et al. 2014, Kimura et al. 2010). Rhapontigenin, a stilbene, was reported to be a potent inhibitor of CYP2C9 with an IC50 value of 2.7 μM. Rhapontigenin has several phenolic hydroxyl groups in its chemical structure, which is similar to the chemical structures of flavonoids (Cieniak et al. 2013). Another study reported that alkyl phenols isolated from Labisia pumila (Kacip Fatimah) were the material basis for CYP2C9 inhibition, which provided further evidence for the importance of phenolic hydroxyl groups (Manda et al. 2014).
The Prevention and Therapy of Osteoporosis: A Review on Emerging Trends from Hormonal Therapy to Synthetic Drugs to Plant-Based Bioactives
Published in Journal of Dietary Supplements, 2019
Twinkle Gupta, Nilanjan Das, Sabiha Imran
Kacip Fatimah, known as Labisia pumila (LP), is a plant belonging to the family Myrsinaceae (Nadia et al., 2012). Aqueous extract of this plant is consumed by Malay women for treatment of painful menstruation and to promote sexual health (Muhamad & Mustafa, 1994). It is also used to treat dysentery, rheumatism, and sickness in bones (Fasihuddin, Rahman, & Hasmah, 1995; Jamal, Houghton, & Milligan, 1998). It exerts estrogenic properties (Mannerås et al., 2010) and can be used as an alternative to estrogen hormones. Toxicity testing by the Herbal Medicine Research Centre of the Institute of Medical Research revealed that it is safe at more than 5.0 g/kg (Ezumi, Amrah, Suhaimi, & Mohsin, 2007).