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The Potential of Plants as Treatments for Venous Thromboembolism
Published in Namrita Lall, Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Lilitha L. Denga, Namrita Lall
Coumarin derivatives have attractive anticoagulant Vitamin K antagonist activity (Lei et al. 2015). Dicoumarol is a Vitamin K antagonist produced by fungal species such as Penicillium nigricans and Penicillium jensi on Melilotus alba Medik. and Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall. (sweet clover) (Madari et al. 2003). Dicoumarol is the building block for modern-day Vitamin K antagonists, and its derivatives are hydroxylated in position 4 and have a substitution in position 3 (Lei et al. 2015). These are the minimum requirements for the anticoagulant activity of coumarins. Warfarin is a synthetic derivative of dicoumarol synthesized by the Michael addition of 4-hydroxycoumarin and benzolactone (Jain and Joshi 2012).
The twentieth century
Published in Michael J. O’Dowd, The History of Medications for Women, 2020
It transpired that the melilots (sweet clover) Melilotus alba and Melilotus officinalis, were introduced from Europe early in the twentieth century and planted on the plains of Dakota and Canada because they flourished on poor soil and were a substitute for corn in silage. Two decades later farmers in the region began to report a mysterious catde disease characterized by hemorrhage, often copious, which, though sometimes spontaneous, more often followed trauma. In one case it was reported that 12 of 25 young bulls had died after castration — they had all bled to death. F.S. Schofield, a veterinary pathologist in Alberta, first described the disease and found that the abnormal bleeding only occurred in catde which had eaten moldy sweet clover, while properly cured hay was harmless (Laurence, 1973). He discovered that the clotting time was prolonged and reported his observation to the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 1924. A number of years later L.M. Roderick, a veterinary surgeon in Dakota, showed that the alteration in the dotting time was due to a reduced crude prothrombin fraction in the blood. At the same time A.J. Quick introduced the one-stage prothrombin test that proved essential for further progress in unraveling the cause of the disease (Hollman, 1992).
Medicinal Plants of the Trans-Himalayas
Published in Raymond Cooper, Jeffrey John Deakin, Natural Products of Silk Road Plants, 2020
Ajay Sharma, Garima Bhardwaj, Pushpender Bhardwaj, Damanjit Singh Cannoo
Oasitic vegetation: Most of the species belonging to this group are cosmopolitan in nature and usually found along a body of water (channels or streams) near to habitation in Kaza, Keylong, Udaipur, Trilokinath, Khoksar, Leh, and Kargil. This type of vegetation consists of a variety of indigenous as well as exotic species (Chaurasia et al., 2007; Kumar et al., 2011). The main species are Trifolium pratense, Rhodiola quadrifolia, Sedum ewersii, Stachys tibetica, Dianthus anatolicus, Epilobium roseum, Mentha longifolia, Galinsoga parviflora, Chenopodium foliosum, Lancea tibetica, Potentilla cuneata, Melilotus alba, and Melilotus officinalis. Only Lonicera sp. and Hippophae rhamnoides are native to the area. The key introduced species are varieties of Prunus, Pyrus, Populus, Morus, Juglans, and Salix (Chaurasia et al., 2007; Kumar et al., 2011a).
Intestinal epithelial damage due to herbal compounds – an in vitro study
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2023
Susan M. Britza, Ian F. Musgrave, Rachael Farrington, Roger W. Byard
Although certain side effects are also caused by adulterants and contaminants (Byard 2010, Coghlan et al.2015, Hoban et al.2018, Crighton et al.2019), or by adverse herb-drug interactions (Hu et al.2005), on occasion tissue damage may be due directly to the toxic effects of the active herbal ingredients (He et al.2019). Coumarin, a known hepatotoxic compound and a potential gastrointestinal toxic phytochemical, is found in abundance in many plant species (Tanaka et al.2016, Stefanachi et al.2018). Herbal medicines that contain coumarins are often used as aromatic agents in beverages and cosmetics, but also for the purported anti-inflammatory, anti-coagulation, anti-microbial and anti-edema properties (e.g. Melilotus officinalis (L.) Pall, Anthoxanthum odoratum (L.), Galium odoratum (L.) Scop, Angelica pubescentis radix) (Wink 2015, Van Wyk and Wink 2017, Ge et al.2019). As is common in traditional medicine, combinations of multiple herbs in a single treatment can result in higher concentrations of key phytochemicals (Zhou et al.2017); these combinations with other phytochemicals may potentiate the effects of coumarins.
The predictive utility of the plant phylogeny in identifying sources of cardiovascular drugs
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Emily Guzman, Jeanmaire Molina
Seven out of 10 species from the Fabaceae family have shown a TL effect, which prevents platelet aggregation or dissolves a blood clot (Klabunde 2012). The popular blood thinner Warfarin was developed from the anticoagulant dicoumarol found in moldy sweet clover, Melilotus officinalis, which is a member of Fabaceae (Pirmohamed 2006). Interestingly, other species in the family were also found to be TL. The saponin astragaloside in Astragalus propinquus can increase the fibrinolytic potential of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (Zhang et al. 1997). Chen et al. (2015) reported that Pueraria lobata (syn. Pueraria montana var. lobata) and Desmodium styracifolium showed fibrinolytic activity, with that of D. styracifolium similar to that of the positive drug urokinase. The isoflavone puerarin from the species P. thomsonii and P. lobata has been found to reduce blood viscosity, promote cerebral blood flow and reduce red blood cell aggregation and secondary cerebral thrombosis (Yuan et al. 2017). Certain isoflavones in Sophora japonica (syn. Styphnolobium japonicum) were strong inhibitors of arachidonic acid- and thromboxane A2-induced platelet aggregation in rat plasma (Chen and Hsieh 2010). Aqueous extracts of fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum, inhibited the coagulation process in vitro and significantly prolonged prothrombin time in a dose-dependent manner (Taj Eldin et al. 2013). A review paper on alfalfa, Medicago sativa, described it as beneficial for blood clotting disorders, and may be contraindicated in those who take blood thinners (Bora and Sharma 2011). It seems that the common occurrence of flavonoids, such as isoflavones and coumarins in Fabaceae is responsible for this pharmacological pattern. Though other species were not found to share this pattern (Castanospermum australe, Senna occidentalis and Glycine max), we can speculate that further research and testing may yield phytochemicals with this activity.