Pharmaceutical Evaluation of Cultivated Glycyrrhiza uralensis Roots in Comparison of Their Antispasmodic Activity and Glycycoumarin Contents with Those of Licorice

Autor: Hidemasa Nagai, Teruaki Akao, Tadato Tani, Yuji Sato, Yutaka Yamamoto
Rok vydání: 2006
Předmět:
Zdroj: Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin. 29:2442-2445
ISSN: 1347-5215
0918-6158
Popis: In China, the collection of wild Glycyrrhiza uralensis, one of the raw materials of Chinese licorice, has been restricted to prevent desertification. To compensate for the reduced supply of wild Glycyrrhiza plants, cultivation programs of G. uralensis have been initiated in eastern Inner Mongolia. The goal of the present study was to compare the chemical and pharmacological properties of cultivated G. uralensis roots to those of licorice prepared from wild Glycyrrhiza plants. The antispasmodic effect of boiled water extract of 4-year-old cultivated G. uralensis roots and licorice on carbachol-induced contraction in mice jejunum was similar (ED(50): 134+/-21 microg/ml vs. 134+/-16 microg/ml). In addition, glycycoumarin content, which is an antispasmodic and species-specific ingredient of G. uralensis, was similar when comparing the boiled water extracts of 4-year-old cultivated roots and licorice (0.10+/-0.02% vs. 0.10+/-0.06%). These data suggest that cultivated G. uralensis roots may be an adequate replacement for the generation of licorice in the context of the restriction of wild Glycyrrhiza plant collection.
Databáze: OpenAIRE