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

Friday, 1 November 2013

Popular #Herbs - Lobelia

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Lobelia is a genus of flowering plant in the genus, belonging to family Campanulaceae, distributed in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world. The herb has been used in traditional medicine as respiratory system stimulant to treat asthma, chronic cough, emphysema, pneumonia, whooping cough, etc.

Health Benefits
1. Multidrug resistance (MDR)
In the investigation of Lobeline, a piperidine alkaloid from Lobelia inflata and several other Lobelia species and its effect on multidrug resistance in tumor cells, found that lobeline inhibited P-gp activity. MDR reversal potential of lobeline could be demonstrated in cells treated with doxorubicin in that lobeline can sensitize resistant tumor cells at non-toxic concentrations. However, lobeline cannot block BCRP (Breast Cancer Resistance Protein) dependent mitoxantrone efflux, according to "Lobeline, a piperidine alkaloid from Lobelia can reverse P-gp dependent multidrug resistance in tumor cells" by Ma Y, Wink M.(1)

2. Anti-virus and anti-inflammation
In the testing forty six compounds, including the novel compound lobechine, from the methanol extracts of Lobelia chinensis and theirs Anti-viral and anti-inflammatory effects found that scoparone (10) exhibited significant inhibition of superoxide anion generation with IC(50) of 6.14 ± 1.97 μM and lobechine (1) exhibited moderate inhibition of elastase release with IC(50) of 25.01 ± 6.95 μM, respectively, according to "Chemical constituents from Lobelia chinensis and their anti-virus and anti-inflammatory bioactivities" by Kuo PC, Hwang TL, Lin YT, Kuo YC, Leu YL.(2)

3. Herpes simplex virus
In the assessment of methanolic extracts from Lobelia chinensis (LC) and its effect on herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) found that animals infected with HSV-1, developed progressive zoster lesions starting 2 days postinfection (p.i.) and appeared the most serious syndromes at 4-5 days p.i. In marked contrast to the results with control mice, treatment with acyclovir or 50 mg/kg/dose LC resulted in a sustained protective effect. The HSV-1 titers and DNA levels in ground skin samples were significantly reduced by LC. No toxic effect of LC on liver and kidney functions was apparent. These results indicated that LC was a potent inhibitor of the in vitro and in vivo replication of HSV-1, according to "Efficacy of orally administered Lobelia chinensis extracts on herpes simplex virus type 1 infection in BALB/c mice" by

Kuo YC, Lee YC, Leu YL, Tsai WJ, Chang SC.(3)

4. Stereotypy
In the demonstration of the effects of lobeline, an alkaloid constituent of Indian tobacco, on methamphetamine (METH)-induced stereotypy in male ICR mice (41-50 days old) found that High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that the range of lobeline doses examined except 30 mg/kg did not affect apparent monoamine turnover in the cerebral cortex, the region of the striatum and nucleus accumbens, and the region of the thalamus and hypothalamus of the mice 20 and 60 min after the drug challenge. These results suggested that the inhibitory effect of lobeline (3.0-10 mg/kg) on METH-induced stereotypy was not attributed to the change in the apparent monoamine turnover, according to " Lobeline attenuates methamphetamine-induced stereotypy in adolescent mice" by Tatsuta T, Kitanaka N, Kitanaka J, Morita Y, Takemura M.(4)

5. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs)
In the evaluation of the bioactive effect of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and its preventive and the proliferative effect on vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in hyperlipidemic rats, found that Lobeline inhibited the proliferation of human umbilical VSMCs induced by ET-1 in a dose-dependent manner and the anti-proliferative effect was involved in the reduce of increased [Ca2+]i, rather than nonspecific cytotoxicity, according to "A novel effect of lobeline on vascular smooth muscle cell: inhibition of proliferation induced by endothelin-1" by Wang JJ, Liu SM, Chen R, Li L, Guo XS, Xue B, Hu WC.(5)

6. Antidepressant
In the investigation of the beta-amyrin palmitate as an active component of a crude extract from Lobelia inflata and its anti depressive effects found that acrude methanolic extract of the leaves of Lobelia inflata exhibited antidepressant activity in mice, according to "An antidepressant principle of Lobelia inflata L. (Campanulaceae)" by Subarnas A, Oshima Y, Sidik, Ohizumi Y.(6)

7. Antitumor effect
In the observation of hot-water extract of delipidated BCG and its effects on Sarcoma-180 cells and Ehrlich carcinoma cells indicated that the hot-water extract was found to be effective when administered after and ineffective when administered before the inoculation of tumor cells. When this extract was given with anticancer drugs, such as Mitomycin C and cyclophosphamide, a combined effect was obtained in the treatment of Sarcoma-180 and of Ehrlich carcinoma, according to "Antitumor activity of hot-water extract from delipidated BCG" by H Sato, A Yokosawa, H Arai, H Nagai, N Kumano, M Motomiya, K Konno(7)

8. ArteriosclerosisAlkaloid lobelin, an active chemical compound of Ban Bian Lian (Lobelia chinensis Lour) has inhibited the proliferation of human umbilical VSMCs induced by ET-1 in a dose-dependent manner and the anti-proliferative effect was involved in the reduce of increased [Ca2+]i, according to the study of "A novel effect of lobeline on vascular smooth muscle cell: inhibition of proliferation induced by endothelin-1" by Wang JJ, Liu SM, Chen R, Li L, Guo XS, Xue B, Hu WC.(1)

9. Etc.