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Scutellaria Species and Cancer Research
Published in Namrita Lall, Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Samantha H. Sherman, Lani Irvin, Prahlad Parajuli, Nirmal Joshee
Scutellaria lateriflora, or American skullcap, is a perennial plant native to North America and has been used in treating kidney problems, digestive tract conditions, menstrual ailments, epilepsy, anxiety and insomnia (Figure 11.1). This plant contains a large number of flavonoids like wogonin, baicalin, and leteriflorin (Nishikawa et al., 1999; Gafner et al., 2000). The whole extract, as well as the phytochemicals present in S. lateriflora, showed strong anti-cancer activity against cancer cell lines, including U87-MG and human malignant glioma (U251), malignant breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) and human prostate cancer (PC3) (Parajuli et al., 2009).
Herbs with Antidepressant Effects
Published in Scott Mendelson, Herbal Treatment of Major Depression, 2019
Skullcap refers to two medicinal plants, American skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) and Chinese skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis). Scutellaria baicalensis has long been a mainstay in Chinese medicine, and has been used for anxiety, depression, neurological conditions, and gastric distress. Scutellaria lateriflora has been used in traditional Native American medicine for nervous tension and various psychiatric and neurological problems. The main phytochemicals in this genus are the flavonoids and glycosides, scutellarin, scetellarein, baicalin, baicalein, wogonin, wogonoside, apigenin, chrysin, and oroxylin A. The plants also contain serotonin, melatonin, and various alkaloids. There are differences between the two species in the percentages of certain phytochemicals they contain.1
Insomnia
Published in Ethan Russo, Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs, 2015
The herb remains popular in some modern circles as a tea for headache and sedation. However, as a plant native to the United States, one would expect support by indigenous authorities. Moer-man (1998) does cite gastrointestinal and gynecological indications by Native Americans for Scutellaria lateriflora, but none that support CNS activity.
Gut microbiota modulates drug pharmacokinetics
Published in Drug Metabolism Reviews, 2018
Juanhong Zhang, Junmin Zhang, Rong Wang
In addition to the above-mentioned intestinal flora-mediated metabolism of individual drugs, there are many reports of drug-drug interactions involving the intestinal flora. The current reports mainly focus on the interaction between antibiotics and other drugs, which is because antibiotics are widely used and often involve the combination of drugs. Gandhi et al. evaluated the risk of developing acute kidney injury in elderly patients taking calcium channel blockers and using either clarithromycin or azithromycin simultaneously. The results showed that the same number of patients using clarithromycin or azithromycin little difference, but the clarithromycin hospitalized patients with 30-d observation of acute kidney injury risk was greater and statistically significant. Calcium channel blockers are metabolized by cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP 3A4. When CYP3A4 enzyme activity is inhibited, the blood levels of these drugs may rise to harmful levels. Clarithromycin is an inhibitor of CYP3A4, but not azithromycin, so the two macrolide antibiotics in the clinical drug interactions is worth to evaluate. These findings support safety warnings regarding the current concurrent use of CYP3A4 inhibitors and calcium channel blockers (Gandhi et al. 2013). The results of the Yoo research group indicate that simultaneous use of drugs (e.g. antibiotics) that affect the metabolic activity of gut micro-organisms may lead to drug-drug interactions. After taking lovastatin, antibiotics were administered to lovastatin active metabolites at peak concentrations from 188.1 ng/ml to 114.7 ng/ml, and the area under the drug-time curve decreased from 907.9 to 589.3 ng h/ml, indicating that the use of antibiotics affects the absorption and production of metabolites and reduces their pharmacological effects (Yoo et al. 2014). At the same time, it was demonstrated that the increase of amlodipine in the plasma of the antibiotic-treated rats may be the result of inhibition of the microorganisms and metabolic activity in the gastrointestinal tract. The reduction in the metabolites of amlodipine after antibiotic treatment demonstrated that the metabolism of amlodipine may be related to intestinal flora (Yoo et al. 2016). In addition, the interaction between aspirin and antibiotics has also been studied. Kim et al investigated the effect of antibiotics on the pharmacological effects of aspirin. They found that the combination of antibiotics with aspirin can modulate the metabolic and pharmacokinetic parameters of aspirin by inhibiting the metabolic activity of the gut microflora, which can enhance the therapeutic efficacy of aspirin (Kim et al. 2016). Since many glycoside compounds in natural products are hydrolyzed by intestinal microbiota when administered orally, it is of interest to know whether their pharmacological effects are derived from the glycoside itself or from the aglycone form in vivo. An interesting example is baicalin versus baicalein, the aglycone of baicalin, which is contained in some herbs from Labiatae including Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi and Scutellaria lateriflora Linne (Noh et al. 2016). Many drug transformation reactions catalyzed by bacterial enzymes in the gut have been reported so far, but only few of them may have important clinical implications it has been reported.