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Depression, Anxiety, Stress, and Spirituality in Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2022
Erminia Guarneri, Shyamia Stone
Piper methysticum is commonly known as kava and has been used for centuries as a drink to decrease anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia.119 Kava has been found to inhibit norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake as well as MAOB, and enhance GABA binding.119 This combination of actions allows kava to have unique properties in that it is anxiolytic, but not sedative like benzodiazepines. There have been controversies about the safety of kava in the past due to reports of hepatotoxicity; however, the rarity of these claims suggests potential poor supplement quality or overuse as a recreational beverage.119
Herbs in Cancer Therapy
Published in Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Surya Prakash Gautam, Herbal Product Development, 2020
Annum Malik, Shahzadi Sidra Saleem, Kifayat Ullah Shah, Learn-Han Lee, Bey Hing Goh, Tahir Mehmood Khan
Cyanidanol (flavonoid catechin) produced both hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia (Galati and O’brien 2004). Several case reports presented with liver failure following the ingestion of herbal preparations of Kava (Piper methysticum) due to which it has been banned in Switzerland and Germany (Mathews et al. 2002).
Herbs with Antidepressant Effects
Published in Scott Mendelson, Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
Kava is the product of pulverized roots and rhizomes of the Piper methysticum pepper plant that is indigenous to South Pacific islands. It has been used by Polynesian cultures as a ceremonial beverage for welcoming guests and honoring all degrees of social relationships. The effects of drinking kava have been described as inducing a “warm, pleasant and cheerful but lazy feeling making people sociable, though not hilarious or loquacious, and not interfering with reasoning.”1
Bioactivation of herbal constituents: mechanisms and toxicological relevance
Published in Drug Metabolism Reviews, 2019
Kava (Piper methysticum) is an effective herbal medicine for anxiety and insomnia and has been consumed in Polynesia as a ceremonial and cultural drink for centuries. However, upon introduction as a dietary supplement in Western countries, there have been multiple case reports of kava-induced hepatotoxicity requiring liver transplantation (Becker et al. 2019). The major constituents of kava extracts are bioactive kavalactones including kawain, 7,8-dihydrokawain, methysticin, 7,8-dihydromethysticin, yangonin, and desmethoxyyangonin (Olsen et al. 2011). The two MDP-bearing lactones, methysticin and 7,8-dihydromethysticin, were shown to produce reactive o-quinones via initial CYP-mediated O-demethylenation of the MDP moiety to a catechol followed by two-electron oxidation (Johnson et al. 2003) (Figure 9(a)). GSH or mercapturic acid conjugates were not identified in human urine presumably due to extensive conjugation of the catechols via glucuronidation and sulfation in vivo. Detection of mercapturic acid adducts of 6-phenyl-3-hexen-2-one in human urine suggested an alternative bioactivation pathway of kavalactones (Zou et al. 2005). Scission of the pyrone ring followed by decarboxylation and o-demethylation led to formation of 6-phenyl-3-hexen-2-one, an α, β-unsaturated ketone metabolite which reacts with GSH or mercapturic acid via Michael-type addition (Zou et al. 2005).
Evaluation of the antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects of a hydrophilic extract from the green seaweed Ulva sp. in rats
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2018
Nicolas Violle, Pascale Rozan, Hervé Demais, Pi Nyvall Collen, Jean-François Bisson
Mood disorders are a major public health concern. Worldwide lifetime prevalence rates of anxiety disorders are estimated from 14 to 28% depending on methodologies and countries,26,27 while clinical depression rates are estimated from 3 to 17%.28 Antidepressant and anxiolytic medications are frequently prescribed but unfortunately exert negative side effects. While antidepressants can induce hepatotoxicity, pulmonary hypertension, headache, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth, nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, decreased appetite, and sexual disorders,29–31 benzodiazepines, the most prescribed class of anxiolytic, are also sedative/hypnotic, amnestic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant, and induce tolerance and dependence.32 Thus, it is important to find better drugs to address mood disorders with as few side effects as possible. Many plants display psychotropic effects in animals and humans, such as Hypericum perforatum for major depression and Piper methysticum for anxiety disorders, and may represent a good adjunct or alternative to existing antidepressant and anxiolytic therapeutics.33–36
The sub-acute toxicity of kavalactone in rats: a study of the effect of oral doses and the mechanism of toxicity in combination with ethanol
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2023
Mohammed Abdulabbas Hasan, Syam Mohan, Heshu Sulaiman Rahman, Hemn Hasan Othman, Shirwan Hamasalih Omer, Abdullah Farasani
Kava refers to the plant as well as the beverage obtained from the rootstock of Piper methysticum (Forst. f.) (family: Piperaceae). The generic term kava, or occasionally referred to as kava kava, refers to the substance in contemporary scientific literature and commerce internationally (da Silva et al. 2021). During the last part of the 19th century, research was carried out to determine the modes of action of the psychoactive components of kava, with the first primary scientific investigation of kava published in 1886 by L. Lewin (Rowe et al. 2011).