Search results for "herbal"

Review of current and “omics” methods for assessing the toxicity (genotoxicity, teratogenicity and nephrotoxicity) of herbal medicines and mushrooms

2012

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The increasing use of traditional herbal medicines around the world requires more scientific evidence for their putative harmlessness. To this end, a plethora of methods exist, more or less satisfying. In this post-genome era, recent reviews are however scarce, not only on the use of new "omics" methods (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabonomics) for genotoxicity, teratogenicity, and nephrotoxicity assessment, but also on conventional ones. Methods: The present work aims (i) to review conventional methods used to assess genotoxicity, teratogenicity and nephrotoxicity of medicinal plants and mushrooms; (ii) to report recent progress in the use of "omics" techn…

The European directive on traditional herbal medicinal products: friend or foe for plant-based therapies?

2012

The endoperoxide ascaridol shows strong differential cytotoxicity in nucleotide excision repair-deficient cells

2011

Targeting synthetic lethality in DNA repair pathways has become a promising anti-cancer strategy. However little is known about such interactions with regard to the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Therefore, cell lines with a defect in the NER genes ERCC6 or XPC and their normal counterparts were screened with 53 chemically defined phytochemicals isolated from plants used in traditional Chinese medicine for differential cytotoxic effects. The screening revealed 12 drugs that killed NER-deficient cells more efficiently than proficient cells. Five drugs were further analyzed for IC50 values, effects on cell cycle distribution, and induction of DNA damage. Ascaridol was the most effe…

Acyclovir Delivery Matrices Based on Poly(Ethylene Glycol)/Chitosan Semi-Interpenetrating Networks

2007

Abstract Chitosan matrix systems have been studied as potential vehicles for the prolonged release of acyclovir (ACV). The influence of chitosan concentration (from 0.83% to 1.67%) on viscoelastic properties of formulations with and without glyoxal was analyzed. For chitosan‐poly(ethylene glycol) 400 formulations loss modulus ( G ″) are greater than storage modulus ( G ′). This corresponds to the characteristic behavior of nonstructured systems. When glyoxal was added to the chitosan‐poly(ethylene glycol) 400 formulations, gelled matrix was obtained (i.e., G ′ is higher than G ″), except for the lowest chitosan concentration. ACV release rates for the both types of systems, with and without…

USE OF HERBAL REMEDIES AMONG CANCER AND TRANSPLANT PATIENTS IN THE TOWN OF PALERMO, SICILY

2010

Concomitant use of herbal remedies may lead to toxicity or failure of conventional therapies in different patients. The objectives of this survey were to assess: (1) the prevalence of the use of vegetal remedies by cancer and transplanted patients (2) the level of communication about such use to the physicians (3) whether such use might be associated to adverse reactions or interactions with conventional drugs. The study was carried out on 100 consecutive cancer patients attending the outpatient medical oncology clinic of the University Hospital "P. Giaccone", Palermo and on other 100 transplanted patients who were hospitalized or followed up at ISMETT, Palermo. Another group was composed o…

Anti-inflammatory and antiallergic activity in vivo of lipophilic Isatis tinctoria extracts and tryptanthrin.

2006

The effects of a supercritical CO2 (SFE) extract, a dichloromethane (DCM) extract from Isatis tinctoria leaf and the alkaloidal constituent tryptanthrin were studied in acute and subchronic experimental models of inflammation. The SFE and DCM extracts showed anti-inflammatory activity in the carrageenan-induced acute mouse paw oedema (ED50 values of 78 mg/kg and 165 mg/kg P. O., respectively) and in the acute tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA)-induced mouse ear oedema in oral (62% and 32% oedema reduction at 100 and 125 mg/kg, respectively) and topical application (37% and 33% reduction of oedema at 0.5 mg/ear). In contrast, tryptanthrin showed no significant anti-inflammatory effect. The D…

Prunella vulgaris L. Upregulates eNOS Expression in Human Endothelial Cells

2010

The purported effects of "circulation-improving" herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) show striking similarities with the vascular actions of nitric oxide (NO) produced by the endothelial NO synthase (eNOS). We have previously reported that Salviae miltiorrhizae radix and Zizyphi spinosae semen upregulate eNOS expression. In the present study, we studied the effect on eNOS gene expression of 15 Chinese herbs with potential effects on the vasculature, and identified Prunella vulgaris L. (PVL) (flowering spike) as a potent eNOS-upregulating agent. In EA.hy 926 cells, a cell line derived from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), an aqueous extract of PVL increased eNOS …

Determination of Fungi and Multi-Class Mycotoxins in Camelia sinensis and Herbal Teas and Dietary Exposure Assessment

2020

In this paper, a study of fungal and multi-mycotoxin contamination in 140 Camellia sinensis and 26 herbal teas marketed in Latvia is discussed. The analysis was performed using two-dimensional liquid chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (2D-LC-TOF-MS) and MALDI-TOF-MS. In total, 87% of the tea samples tested positive for 32 fungal species belonging to 17 genera, with the total enumeration of moulds ranging between 1.00 &times

A new dibenzofuran and other constituents from Ligularia caloxantha, a Chinese medicinal plant.

2008

A new dibenzofuran named 1,2,4-trimethyl-7,8-dimethoxy-dibenzofuran (1), together with seven known compounds, euparin (2), 2,5-diacetyl-6-hydroxy-benzofuran (3), 2-acetyl-5,6-dimethoxy-benzofuran (4), gummosogenin (5), lupeol (6), stigmasterol (7) and (E)-2,5-dihydroxy-cinnamic acid (8), were isolated from the roots of Ligularia caloxantha, a Chinese medicinal plant. The structures of the compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic methods.

Considerations regarding the alleged association between Herbalife products and cases of hepatotoxicity: a rebuttal.

2014

We thank Dr. K Appelhans et al. for their comments [1] on our paper [2], published online first in April 2012. In our review, we aimed to draw the attention of physicians to the uncontrolled and increasingly alarming use of herbal products and dietary supplements in the general population. In fact, in Italy this phenomenon, though still limited, has rapidly increased over the last few years. Here, use of herbal medicine products has increased to 3.7 %, while in other countries consumption is higher, reaching 20 % in the UK, and 40 % in the USA. Young non-smoking women with a high level of education appear to be the most common consumers [3]. It seems that women use these products more than …