Holistic Health Articles and Research Related to Herbal Medicines, Foods and Phytochemicals : Popular #Herbs

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Popular #Herbs - Goat's rue

Goat's rue is is an herbaceous plant, in the genus Galega, belonging to the family Fabaceae, native to to the Middle East. The herb has been used in traditional medicine to increase milk flow, treat diabetes

Health benefits
1. Anti-bacterial activity
In the testing of Alcoholic extracts of Goat's Rue (Galega officinalis L.; Papilionaceae) on Gram +ve and Gram -ve bacteria found that Ethanolic (60%) extract exhibited significant inhibition on growth of both Gram +ve and Gram -ve bacteria, according to "Anti-bacterial activity of Galega officinalis L. (Goat's Rue)" by Pundarikakshudu K, Patel JK, Bodar MS, Deans SG.(1)

2. Weight Loss
In the pharmacological investigations in mice of an ethanolic extract of a powdered mixture of equal proportions of G. officinalis, Cressa cretica, Mangifera indica and Syzygium jambolanum, found that together with its established hypoglycaemic effects, galega has a novel weight reducing action that, in normal mice, is largely independent of a reduction in food intake. The mechanism of the weight reducing action of galega is unclear but involves loss of body fat, according to "Novel weight-reducing activity of Galega officinalis in mice" by Palit P, Furman BL, Gray AI.(2)

3. Platelet aggregation
In the testing of the inhibiting and disaggregating effect of desalted and fractionated herbal extract of Galega officinalis L. on platelet aggregation in vitro, found that at a concentration of 40 micrograms/ml PRP the fraction inhibits the initiation of platelet aggregation by collagen and at 50 micrograms/ml PRP inhibits the initiation of aggregation by thrombin. At a concentration of 65 micrograms/ml PRP the fraction can disaggregate 50% of the aggregated platelet-rich plasma by ADP and 25% of aggregated PRP by collagen, according to "Inhibiting effect of desalted extract from Galega officinalis L. on platelet aggregation" by

Atanasov AT, Spasov V.(3)

4. Anti diabetes
Metformin, derived from the plant Goal's rue is a medication used in treating type 2 diabetes. In the investigation of the exposure-response properties of metformin were characterized in 12 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus suggested that the clinical utility of metformin was maintained over the dose range evaluated with respect to fasting plasma glucose and lactic acid response, according to "Population exposure-response modeling of metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus" by Hong Y, Rohatagi S, Habtemariam B, Walker JR, Schwartz SL, Mager DE.(4)

5. Anti cancers
In the testing of the new cancer drug with two new guanidine-type alkaloids, nitensidines D and E (1, 2), and the known pterogynine (3), pterogynidine (4), and galegine(found abundant in Goal's rue) (5), were isolated from the leaves of Pterogyne nitens found that These compounds were tested against a small panel of human cancer cell lines. Compound 2 exhibited cytotoxicity for HL-60 (human myeloblastic leukemia) and SF-245 (human glioblastoma) cells, according to "Cytotoxic guanidine alkaloids from Pterogyne nitens" by Regasini LO, Castro-Gamboa I, Silva DH, Furlan M, Barreiro EJ, Ferreira PM, Pessoa C, Lotufo LV, de Moraes MO, Young MC, Bolzani Vda S."(5)

6. Antihyperglycemic agent
In the synthesis and evaluation of aminoalkylguanidine analogues and derivatives in C57BL/KsJ db/db diabetic mice, found that these compounds are related to galegine, a gamma,gamma-dimethylallylguanidine. Between the newly identified compounds, 1h N-(cyclopropylmethyl)- N'-(4-(aminomethyl)cyclohexylmethyl)guanidine showed the most balanced activity as antihyperglycemic and food intake-reducing agent., according to "Novel substituted aminoalkylguanidines as potential antihyperglycemic and food intake-reducing agents" by Tassoni E, Giannessi F, Brunetti T, Pessotto P, Renzulli M, Travagli M, Rajamäki S, Prati S, Dottori S, Corelli F, Cabri W, Carminati P, Botta M.(6)

7. Etc.