Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic herb-drug interactions-part I. Herbal medicines of the central nervous system.

Unlike conventional drug substances, herbal medicines are composed of a complex of biologically active compounds. Therefore, the potential occurrence of herb-drug interactions is even more probable than for drug-drug interactions. Interactions can occur on both the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic level.

Proposed mechanisms of action of herbal drugs and their biologically active constituents in the treatment of coughs: an overview.

Various medicinal plants find their use in cough treatment, based on traditions and long-term experience. Pharmacological principles of their action, however, are much less known. Herbal drugs usually contain a mixture of potentially active compounds, which can manifest diverse effects.

Natural Products for the Prevention and Treatment of Common Cold and Viral Respiratory Infections.

The common cold is generally considered a usually harmless infectious disease of the upper respiratory pathway, with mostly mild symptoms. However, it should not be overlooked, as a severe cold can lead to serious complications, resulting in hospitalization or death in vulnerable patients. The treatment of the common cold remains purely symptomatic.

Combination Therapy of Carnosic Acid and Methotrexate Effectively Suppressed the Inflammatory Markers and Oxidative Stress in Experimental Arthritis.

Background: Combination therapy with methotrexate (MTX) is the most common therapeutic strategy used for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we combined the natural compound carnosic acid (CA) with MTX to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in adjuvant arthritis (AA).

Methods: AA was induced in 6-8 rats per group.

Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders-Plants and Potential Mechanisms of Action of Their Constituents.

The worldwide prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases is about 40%, with standard pharmacotherapy being long-lasting and economically challenging. Of the dozens of diseases listed by the Rome IV Foundation criteria, for five of them (heartburn, dyspepsia, nausea and vomiting disorder, constipation, and diarrhoea), treatment with herbals is an official alternative, legislatively supported by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). However, for most plants, the Directive does not require a description of the mechanisms of action, which should be related to the therapeutic effect of the European plant in question.

Betalains in Edible Fruits of Three Cactaceae Taxa-, , and -Their LC-MS/MS and FTIR Identification and Biological Activities Evaluation.

, and plants belong to the Cactaceae family. They are mostly known as ornamental plants but also for their edible fruits, which can potentially be sources of betalains, such as betanin, a natural pigment used in the food industry, e.g.

Characterization of Phenolic Compounds and Antiproliferative Effects of and Extracts.

The phenolic compounds of methanolic extracts of and were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Carnosic acid and its metabolite carnosol were the most abundant terpene phenolic compounds of , while they were completely absent in . The main terpene phenolic constituent of was 12--methylcarnosic acid and its mass/mass fragmentation pathway was explained.

Ginkgo biloba Food Supplements on the European Market - Adulteration Patterns Revealed by Quality Control of Selected Samples.

The aim of this study was to prove whether food supplements on the European market comply with pharmaceutical quality, and whether their composition satisfies the European Pharmacopoeia criteria. Medicinal products containing a standardised Ginkgo leaf extract are used for the improvement of cognitive impairment and quality of life in mild dementia. Further, Ginkgonis folium is used for the treatment of peripheral circulation disorders.

Ferulaldehyde Improves the Effect of Methotrexate in Experimental Arthritis.

Methotrexate (MTX) is still the gold standard for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The therapeutic efficacy of low-dose of MTX can be increased by its combination with a natural substance, ferulaldehyde (FRA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect FRA and MTX administered alone or in combination in adjuvant arthritis.

[Phenolic compounds in leaves insertions of Mentha × villosa Huds. cv. Snežná].

Lamiaceae plants mostly accumulate active ingredients in their leaves. The subfamily Nepetoideae, including the genus Mentha L., is characterized by the presence of essential oil and antioxidant phenolics, chiefly hydroxycinnamic acids with predominance of rosmarinic acid, and flavonoids.

Elemental analysis of Ginkgo biloba leaf samples collected during one vegetation period.

The object of our work was the identification and quantification of inorganic elements in Ginkgo biloba L. leaves (Ginkgonis folium, Ginkgoaceae) by X-ray fluorescence analysis. The plant material was obtained from a 50-years-old female tree at the Comenius University Botanical Garden (Bratislava, Slovakia).

Safety assessment of botanicals and botanical preparations used as ingredients in food supplements: testing an European Food Safety Authority-tiered approach.

This article describes results obtained by testing the European Food Safety Authority-tiered guidance approach for safety assessment of botanicals and botanical preparations intended for use in food supplements. Main conclusions emerging are as follows. (i) Botanical ingredients must be identified by their scientific (binomial) name, in most cases down to the subspecies level or lower.

Antifungal activity of Mahonia aquifolium extract and its major protoberberine alkaloids.

The crude extract of Mahonia aquifolium (Berberidaceae) stem bark and its components berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine were screened for their inhibitory activity against a variety of dermatophytes and two Candida species of human origin using the in vitro dilution agar plate method. Jatrorrhizine was found to be the most effective against all fungal species tested (MIC ranges from 62.5 to 125 micro g/mL), while the crude extract, berberine, and palmatine exhibited only marginal activity (MIC 500 to >/= 1000 micro g/mL).

Antimutagenic potential of homoisoflavonoids from Muscari racemosum.

The potential antimutagenic effect of the plant extract of Muscari racemosum bulbs, rich on 3-benzylidene-4-chromanones, was evaluated on three genetic model organisms. The mixture of three homoisoflavonoids was applied together with diagnostic mutagens in the Ames assay on four bacterial strains Salmonella typhimurium TA97, TA98, TA100, TA102, in the toxicity and mutagenicity/antimutagenicity assay on the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae D7, and in the simultaneous phytotoxicity and clastogenicity/anticlastogenicity assay on Vicia sativa (L.).

Potential antimutagenic activity of berberine, a constituent of Mahonia aquifolium.

Background: As part of a study aimed at developing new pharmaceutical products from natural resources, the purpose of this research was twofold: (1) to fractionate crude extracts from the bark of Mahonia aquifolium and (2) to evaluate the strength of the antimutagenic activity of the separate components against one of the common direct-acting chemical mutagens.

Methods: The antimutagenic potency was evaluated against acridine orange (AO) by using Euglena gracilis as an eukaryotic test model, based on the ability of the test compound/fraction to prevent the mutagen-induced damage of chloroplast DNA.

Results: It was found that the antimutagenicity of the crude Mahonia extract resides in both bis-benzylisoquinoline (BBI) and protoberberine alkaloid fractions but only the protoberberine derivatives, jatrorrhizine and berberine, showed significant concentration-dependent inhibitory effect against the AO-induced chloroplast mutagenesis of E.

Effect of Mahonia aquifolium active compounds on interleukin-8 production in the human monocytic cell line THP-1.

The effect of the crude extract and of two alkaloid fractions prepared from Mahonia aquifolium on interleukin-8 (IL-8) production in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated human monocytic cell line THP-1 was studied. The production of IL-8 by cells stimulated with 20 ng/ml LPS after 48 h treatment with 20 microg/ml crude extract was inhibited by about 30 %. LPS-stimulated cells treated with 0.

The influence of the harvest cut height on the quality of the herbal drugs Melissae folium and Melissae herba.

Variability in both the content and quality of essential oil was observed in herb and leaf drugs in dependence on the harvest cut height of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L. cv. Citra).