Catalog of Herbs
James A. Duke in Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 2018
Glycyrrhiza contains saponin and tannic acids; the seeds contain typsin inhibitors and chymotrypsin inhibitors. G. glabra contains 2-beta-glucuronosyl glucuronic acid, glycyrrhizin, and isoliquiritigenin-4-glucoside. One analysis showed 20% moisture, 12 to 16% glycyrrhizin, 8% reducing sugars, 8% nonreducing sugars, 30% starch and gums, 5% ash, and 12 to 17% undetermined. Rose47 reports that licorice contains estrogenic materials. Glycyrrhizine is used in Egypt as a cortisone substitute, without the withdrawal syndrome of cortisone. Dry seeds contain 21 to 30% protein, 1 to 11% fat.21 Excessive licorice ingestion can lead to cardiac dysfunction and severe hypertension.11 According to Mitscher et al.,168licorice also contains glabndin, glabrene, glabrol (potent against Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium smegmatts), formononetin, phaseollinisoflavone (phytoalexin), salicylic acid, o-acetyl salicylic acid (0.15%; perhaps enough to be pharmaceutical), and hispaglabridin (rather potent in vitro against Staphylococcus and Mycobacterium).
Ethnomedicinal and Pharmacological Importance of Glycyrrhiza glabra L
Mahendra Rai, Shandesh Bhattarai, Chistiane M. Feitosa in Wild Plants, 2020
It had extensible uses in traditional Ayurveda and Chinese medicine for different liver and skin diseases for hundreds of years (EMA 2013). The earliest evidence of the use of liquorice comes from the ancient catacombs of Egyptian rulers. One of the earliest record of its use in medicine is found in “code Hummurabi” (2100 BC). It is also one of the important plants mentioned in Assyrian herbal studies (2000 BC) (Kaur et al. 2013). The people in ancient Greece and Rome commonly used liquorice as a tonic and as a cold remedy (Marisa et al. 2013). Theophrastus is known to have suggested liquorice as a remedy to combat infertility, to heal wounds and ulcerations of the mouth, and to treat malaises of the throat. Among the ancient Hindus, it was believed that liquorice, administered as a mixture with milk and sugar, increased sexual potency (Marisa et al. 2013). The ancient Chinese believed that liquorice root gave them strength and endurance, and they prepared it most often as tea for its tonic, expectorant, rejuvenating, laxative, and nutritive properties (Marisa et al. 2013).
Liquorice and Chinese herbal medicine
Vivienne Lo, Michael Stanley-Baker, Dolly Yang in Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine, 2022
Throughout all the publications mentioned above liquorice is frequently mentioned as a medicinal herb and also as a component of prescriptions used to treat a wide range of diseases. Whether liquorice is the ‘sovereign’ drug, providing the therapeutic thrust, or an ‘envoy’ drug directing the ‘sovereign’ to the appropriate organ, is not always stated and we must consider both possibilities. How far these prescriptions live up to the claims made for them when tested using modern pharmacological and clinical procedures is one of the concerns of this article.
Effects of liquorice on pharmacokinetics of aconitine in rats
Published in Xenobiotica, 2019
Yufei He, Zihong Wei, Xiaoyan Ci, Ying Xie, Xiulin Yi, Yong Zeng, Yazhuo Li, Changxiao Liu
As the most widely applied herbal medicine, liquorice has been used as “guide drug” in combination with other herbs to play a critical role in either toxicity reduction or enhancement of effectiveness. The investigations on the mechanism of compatibility with liquorice have been conducted accordingly. Bioactive ingredients of liquorice were able to induce the expression of CYPs, which were supported by the results obtained from HepG2 cells or other models (Chen et al., 2014; Mu et al., 2006). While human primary hepatocytes as an ideal alternative approach have also been applied in studying the impact of chemicals on expression and function of CYPs and accepted as gold standard in vitro (Gerin et al., 2013). In this study, the cryopreserved human primary hepatocytes were used to explore the potential impact of active ingredients of liquorice on expression of critical CYP enzymes. The resulting data suggested that those compounds could upregulate the expression of CYPs to various contents, even though not all were significant, since the primary hepatocytes were not able to proliferate and survive for long term. This model remained as the most reliable approach still.
Effects of glycyrrhizin on the pharmacokinetics of paeoniflorin in rats and its potential mechanism
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2019
Hongjuan Sun, Jingfeng Wang, Juan Lv
Liquorice is the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. or Glycyrrhiza glabra L., (Leguminosae) (Akao et al. 1994; Asl and Hosseinzadeh 2008). Liquorice has been commonly used together with other herbs to enhance the effects of other ingredients or to reduce toxicity in traditional Chinese medicine (Chen et al. 2009; Sun et al. 2013; Han et al. 2014; Bhattacharjee et al. 2015). It has been reported that the glycyrrhizin, a triterpenoid saponin that isolated from liquorice, has anti-inflammatory, hepato-protective and antitumour properties. Some research articles have indicated that the drug–drug interaction might occur when they are co-administered (Hu et al. 2003; Gao QT et al. 2004; Chen et al. 2012; Tai et al. 2014; Feng et al. 2015; Gao X et al. 2016). To the best of our knowledge, there are little data available for the effects of glycyrrhizin on the pharmacokinetics of paeoniflorin. As Chinese medicines have become more and more popular all over the world due to their natural origin, glycyrrhizin and paeoniflorin are always co-administered in clinical for the treatment of different diseases, and therefore, the drug–drug interaction between glycyrrhizin and paeoniflorin should be investigated.
Effects of glycyrrhizin on the pharmacokinetics of asiatic acid in rats and its potential mechanism
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Ling Guo, Ying Cui, Kaijun Hao
Liquorice is the root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. or Glycyrrhiza glabra L. (Leguminosae). Liquorice has been commonly used together with other herbs to enhance the effects of other ingredients or to reduce toxicity in traditional Chinese medicine (Wang et al. 2013; Link et al. 2015). Glycyrrhizin, a triterpenoid saponin isolated from licorice, has anti-inflammatory, hepato-protective and antitumor properties (Chen et al. 2017; Jia et al. 2017; Mu et al. 2017). Several research articles have indicated that glycyrrhizin could modulate the activity of CYP3A4 and P-gp, which might lead to drug–drug interactions when they are co-administered with other herbs or drugs (Chen et al. 2009; Yan et al. 2017; Zhao et al. 2017). Chinese medicines are often co-administered in clinical practice with or without patients’ knowledge, which may greatly raise the potential of drug–drug interactions. These interactions can cause significant safety concerns because the pharmacokinetics of the drug and/or the active constituent of Chinese medicines may be altered by co-administration; severe and perhaps even life-threatening adverse reactions may occur (Wang et al. 2015; Li et al. 2016). However, the drug–drug interaction between asiatic acid and glycyrrhizin is still unknown, especially the effects of glycyrrhizin on the pharmacokinetics of asiatic acid.
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