Researches on Weight Loss via Herbal Medicines in China

In the past, individual herbal medicines for weight loss reported in China included lotus leaf, coix seed, phaseolus calcaratus, Polygonum cuspidatum, Rhizoma atractylodis, Rhizoma alismatis, Capillary artemisia, Folium sennae, onion, Radix bupleuri, bulrush root, honeysuckle, Radix salviae miltiorrhizae, Paeonia lactiflora, leonurus, pseudo-ginseng, raw hawthorn, trogopterus dung, Rhizoma cyperi, Rhizoma sparganii, curcuma zedoary, Caulis spatholobi, Angelica sinensis, Ligusticum wallichii, Eclipta alba, Ligustrum lucidum Ait, fleece-flower root, radix rehmanniae, Cornus officinalis and chrysanthemum.

 

An experiment was conducted to feed mice with high-fat fodder containing eustoma-water extracts, and the result showed that weight and fat mass around uterus of mice were obviously reduced on comparing groups of high-fat fodder containing 5% eustoma-water extracts with control groups. Meanwhile, TG level in liver was somewhat reduced. Total platycodin was thought to inhibit the activity of pancreatic lipase by 41.7%, platycodin D, platycodin A, and platycodin C of which separately inhibited the activity at level of 34.8%, 3.3% and 5.2% for purpose of weight loss through inhibiting absorption of dietary fat.

 

When Fallopia multiflora extract was fed to rats via oral administration, the result showed food intake and weight of rats were obviously reduced. The activity of liver FAS of rats in treatment groups was lower than that in control groups (double distilled water in control groups). Wang et al. established a diet-induced obesity model of rats by feeding dietary fodder and observed action of Yuncaoning on rats with diet-induced obesity. Recording weight, body length, tail length, Lee’s index, fat mass around reproductive organs and number of adipose cells, after the administration, indexes above were all obviously improved (P<0.05). It was confirmed that Yuncaoning has a preventively anti-obesity action on rats with diet-induced obesity.

 

Garlic crude extracts was found to obviously reduce level of blood lipid of rats with hyperlipidemia. Meanwhile, it also reduced body weight, liver weight and fat wet weight in body of rats. Further researches confirmed that allicin in garlic is diallyltrisulfide, which is stable and has actions like lowering cholesterol. Randomly assigning SD rats that were established to a high-lipid model to three dose groups (low, middle and high) and one control group and feeding high fat-diet treated rats for 30 days following by executing and weighing body weight and fat wet weight in body and at last, calculating body fat. The result showed that body weight, weight gain and fat wet weight in body of rats in low, middle and high dose treatment groups were obviously reduced compared with the control group, and body fat of rats in low and middle dose groups were also obviously reduced compared with the control group (P<0.05).

 

Ning et al. conducted an intragastric administration with ganoderma lucidum mycelia fermentation extracts to mice with diet-induced obesity and infused NS to control groups, and observed changes of body weight. The result showed that ganoderma lucidum mycelia fermentation extracts obviously reduced the body weight of mice with diet-induced obesity.

 

Another intragastric administration was carried out with Kudingcha decoction to rats with obesity for 4 weeks, and they found that Kudingcha obviously reduced total serum cholesterol and TG, and liver weight and fat wet weight were also reduced. Huang Linfang established a diet-induced obesity model of mice by feeding them with dietary fodder and administrated with water decoction of Kudingcha produced in Sichuan via intragastric administration, and then set up several groups, measured and calculated each index of mice in each treatment group like body weight and fat wet weight. Anti-obesity action of Kudingcha was observed on mice with diet-induced obesity and found the effect was obvious (P<0.01).

 

About Stanford Chemicals   http://www.bestherbalextract.com

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts

Chemical Constituents of Sophora tonkinensis

Sophora tonkinensis is the dry root and the rhizome of Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep, a Leguminosae sprawling dwarf shrub plant mainly originated from Guangxi and Guizhou, two provinces of China. It was firstly recorded in a Chinese medical book called “Kai Bao Ben Cao”. Its medicinal property is bitter cold and definitely toxic. The meridian tropism is in lung and stomach. The effects are heat-clearing and detoxicating, reducing swelling and relieving sore throat. In modern clinical medicine, it is commonly used to treat diseases like swollen sore throat, jaundice with damp-heat and arrhythmia. Here we will walk you through the recent studies on the chemical constituents of Sophora tonkinensis.

1. Alkaloids

Alkaloids separated from Sophora tonkinensis are divides into matrine-type, cytisine-type, sparteine-type and lupinine-type, which is the most common. The main effective constituents are matrine and oxymatrine, as well as sophocarpine, sophoridine, sophoramine, sophoranol, cytisine, N-caulophylline, anagyrine and oxysophocarpine. A research extracted 5α-hydroxysophocarpine, (+)-14α-hydroxymatrine, (-)-14β-hydroxymatrine, (+)-5α, 9α-dyhydroxymatrine and 9-hydroxymatrine from Sophora tonkinensis. With the continuous deepening of research, (-)-14β-carbethoxymatrine, (+)-14α-carbethoxymatrine, 13, 14-dehydrosophoranol and (-)-14β-hydroxyoxymatrine were separated successively.

2. Flavonoids

Flavonoids in Sophora tonkinensis are divided into sophoranone, sophoridine, sophorado-chromene and new flavone glycosides I-VII. Later on, sophora flavone A, sophora flavone B, baying, sophoranone, sophoradin, sophoranochromene, sophoradochromene, genistein, pterocarpin, maackian, sitosterol, lupeol, glabrol, genistein, maackiain, trifolirhizin, quercetin, rutin, isorhamnetin-3-rutoside, formononetin, 8-methylretusin, (-)-trifolirhizin. Six new flavone glycosides compounds were separated, including tonkinochromane A. A Chinese investigator named Long Jinqiao firstly separated glycyrrhizin and 7, 4-dyhydroxyflavone from Guangxi Sophora tonkinensis.

3. Polysaccharide

In a study,8 polysaccharides were successively extracted with hot water, 1mol. L-1 NaOH, 2.5mol. L-1 NaOH after degreasing Sophora tonkinensis: SSa-1, SSa-2, SSa-3, SSa-4 and SSb-1 FA, SSb-2, SSb-3, SSc-1. Researchersused DEAE-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography and Sephadex G-100 gel chromatography to separate and purify and obtained water-soluble polysaccharide SSP1.

4. Triterpenoid

Triterpene and triterpenoid saponin that Sophora tonkinensis contains mainly belong to oleanene-type and some individuals belong to lupinane-type. Sophora tonkinensis contains abrisapogenol C, D, E, H, I, cantoniensistriol, kudzusapogenol A, melilotigenin, wistariasapogenol A, lupeol, kaikasaponin II, III, subprogenin A-D, soyasapogenol A and B, abrisapogenin I, dehydrosoyasaponin I, subpmside I-VII, sophoradiol, soyasaponin A, B, A3, 3-O-[α-L-rhamnosyl (1-2) -D-galactoside-(1-2)-β-D-glucosyl] soyasapogenolmethylester.

5. Other constituents

There are also other constituents of phenolic compounds, coumarin, anthraquinone, sterol, caffeic acid, fatty acid, protein and amino acid existing in Sophora tonkinensis like piscidicacidmonoethylester, maltol, vanillic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, dodecyl caffeinate, rheum emodin, physcion and β-sitosterol. The microelements of iron, copper, zinc and manganese in Sophora tonkinensis are all very abundant. Meanwhile, there are infinitesimal harmful elements of cadmium and lead existing in Sophora tonkinensis.

 

Sophora tonkinensis has rich chemical constituents and wide pharmacological activities as well as potential value in use. However, researches of pharmacological effects at present mainly focus on alkaloids and polysaccharide, while there are few reports about pharmacological effects of flavonoids, triterpenes and other constituents, which have yet to been further studied.

 

About Stanford Chemicals     http://www.bestherbalextract.com

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Seven Pharmacological Effects of Sophora tonkinensis

Sophora tonkinensis is the dry root and rhizome of Sophora tonkinensis Gagnep, a Leguminosae sprawling dwarf shrub plant primarily produced in two China’s provinces, i.e. Guangxi and Guizhou. As a valuable traditional Chinese medicinal herb, Sophora tonkinensis mainly contains alkaloids and flavonoids with anti-tumor, immune-potentiation antiarrhythmic activity and so on. It would be a promising source of bioactive natural products. Today we will go over seven beneficial effects of this herb to our body.

 

1. Anti-tumor effect

Aqueous extracts of Sophora tonkinensis has inhibiting effects on human esophageal cancer cell strain (Eca-109) and liver cancer SMMC-7721 cell so as to reduce activities of glutamate dehydrogenase, malic dehydrogenase and lactic dehydrogenase until a negative reaction as well as reducing mitotic index and metabolic activity of mitochondrion and inhibiting proliferation of cancer cells. Compound Sophora tonkinensis injection has preferable inhibiting effect on the B₁₆ melanoma and Lewis lung tumor of mice, obviously prolonging the lifetime of mice. Quercetin can inhibit proliferation of a variety of cancer cells like colon cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer and bladder cancer and induce apoptosis of cancer cells. Both matrine and oxymatrine have inhibiting and killing effects on a variety of cancer cell strains like human pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and esophageal cancer.

 

1. Anti-inflammatory effect

Total alkali of Sophora tonkinensis has inhibiting effect on increasing of capillary permeability, tissue edema and proliferation of granulation tissue of acute inflammation so as to reduce content of ascorbic acid. Aqueous extracts can inhibit auricle swelling of mice which is caused by xylene, reduce increasing of celiac capillary permeability of mice which is caused by glacial acetic acid and inhibit increasing of skin capillary permeability of rats which is caused by histamine.

 

1. Anti-bacteria and anti-virus effect

Sophora tonkinensis has inhibiting effect on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus albus, α Streptococcus and β Streptococcus. Alkaloids of Sophora favescens ait have inhibiting effect of different levels on 14 bacteria like Streptococcus pneumonia, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Citrobacter freundii. Meanwhile, the effects on Coxsackie virus, Type 3 adenovirus and syncytial virus are obvious, and the effect on Type α3 influenza virus is better.

 

1. Anti-oxidation effect

Polysaccharide of Sophora tonkinensis can clear hydroxyl radical, inhibit auto-oxidation of pyrogallol, eliminate H₂O₂ that spleen lymphocytes of mice secrete which is induced by zymosan. Alcohol extracts can combat erythrocyte oxidative hemolysis induced by H₂O₂ and eliminate superoxide anion.

 

1. Effect on cardiovascular system

Oxymatrine can reduce changes of neuroethology which is caused by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion as well as reducing area of cerebral infarction, activity of MPO and expression of COX-2 in tissues. Sophora tonkinensis alkaloid can increase activities of ATPase, SOD and GSH-Px, reduce content of MDA and has protective effect on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

 

1. Effect on immune system

Sophora tonkinensis can increase phagocytic function of peritoneal macrophage of mice and E-rosette rate of formation of lymphocytes and has favorable immune effect. Polysaccharide of Sophora tonkinensis can increase the spleen index, reduce the activity of myeloperoxidase and xanthine oxidase, enhance the activity of glutathione peroxidase and eliminate excess free radical in vivo.

 

1. Hepatoprotective effect

Liver enzyme injection has obvious effect on treating hepatitis, and it can inhibit replication of HBV and improve liver function after a combination with high-precision thymosin. Liver enzyme injection can reduce contents of AST, ALT and ALP of mice with toxic liver injury which is caused by CCl₄, increase A/G, relieve pathological changes like hepatocyte ballooning and necrosis of liver cells and protect its ultrastructure. Oxymatrine has protective effects on chemical liver injury, fulminant liver injury, ischemia-reperfusion liver injury which are induced by CCl₄ and HBV and HCV hepatitis.

 

By Stanford Chemicals   http://www.bestherbalextract.com

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

 

Chinese Herbal Medicines Work to Control Diabetes

According to the statistics from American Diabetes Association, there are 24 million people suffering from diabetes in the United States of America, and 5 million people even don’t know to have diabetes. Overall, there are 54 million Americans whose blood glucose levels are in unstable states or existing phenomena of insulin resistance at different levels. Most patients have Type II diabetes, which can be prevented and controlled by a healthy diet with low carbohydrate and low sugar. Patients with diabetes have an increasing risk of other diseases like heart disease, stroke, blindness, peripheral neuropathy and pain, impairment of renal function, impotence or skin disorders.

 

One article published in “Nation Annals of Internal Medicine” carried out a 30-year follow-up investigation towards 4,000 adults on their developing status of obesity. The result revealed that 90% males and 70% females finally developed to overweight. There are close connection between the obesity and diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, hypertension, depression and many cancers. M.D. Michael Cutler of America had found the following herbal medicines can prevent and control diabetes after studies and summaries of many years.

 

1. Leaves of red peony

This kind of old herbal medicine originated from India of tropics, people find that frequently chewing its leaves lowers blood glucose, and it can be used as a pharmacological inhibitor of weight loss. More importantly, several studies with placebo controls showed that red peony extracts lowered blood glucose by increasing the activities of insulin. Studies on animals showed that red peony extracts doubled the number of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and made the blood glucose level tend to be normal. Studies on human bodies showed that red peony extracts really increased the bodies’ ability to control the blood glucose.

 

2. Fenugreek

This is a kind of annual of herbal medicine, also called sweet grass, snow sally (Tibetan), which is good as crops of rapid growth, green manure and fodders. It is native to Southern European, Northern Africa and Middle Asia, and it has a wide distribution in China like provinces of Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai and Shanxi. A large-scale research showed that after 24 hours some patients who had Type II diabetes with a terrible control of blood glucose received fenugreek extracts, the level of postprandial average blood glucose was reduced from 151 mg/L to 112 mg/L.

 

3. Korean ginseng or American ginseng

A research with placebo control showed that postprandial blood glucose was obviously reduced after patients with Type II diabetes received Korean ginseng or American ginseng extracts.

 

4. Bitter orange

This kind of herbal medicine stimulates sympathetic nervous system and then increases the ability of metabolism as well as reducing patients’ appetite.

 

5. Milk thistle

It’s also called Silybum marianum, cardus marianus, blessed milk thistle, etc. When the stem and lamina of milk thistle are cut apart, milk white sap will outflow, therefore, the name is defined as “Milk thistle”. Kashmir Mountains in India and Pakistan is the origin of S. marianum, and now it has been planted in many areas of Europe, America and Australia. It has a medical history of more than 2000 years so far and has been a natural herbal medicine which is most efficient in improving liver function and treating liver and gall diseases clinically. Milk thistle prompts the damaged liver to produce regeneration ability. It stimulates the regeneration of new hepatocytes, repairs the function of damaged livers, increases the output of bile, prevents hepatitis and cirrhosis, and when mistakenly touching or eating toxic substance and leading to the impairment of liver, taking this herbal medicine immediately will detoxify the symptom at once. Studies showed that extracts of milk thistle also prevent the fatty liver and avoid diabetes that obesity causes.

 

6. Green tea

Green tea can increase the ability of metabolism and reduce the morbidity of chronic diseases. Meanwhile, it can obviously reduce the uptake of food, and the weight, cholesterol and triglyceride will be reduced. A study showed that green tea can increase the activity of insulin by 15 times.

 

7. Huckleberry

Leaves of huckleberries have a weak anti-diabetic characteristic. Studies on animals showed that it can continuously lower the level of blood glucose by 26%. In folk medicine, it is called herb tea that is able to lower blood glucose.

 

8. Cinnamon

America Journal of “Diabetes Care” reported that this kind of spices can increase rodents’ ability of metabolism to carbohydrate food. Levels of blood glucose will be obviously reduced if taking cinnamon extract of less than half spoon each day and continuously for 40 days.

 

9. Acanthopanax

Acanthopanax includes canthopanax which is similar to insulin, but further researches are being conducted for its specific chemical substance. Its roots can be purified and manufactured to tinctures, a quite small dose of which is able to lower blood glucose.

 

About Stanford Chemicals    http://www.bestherbalextract.com

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Chemoprevention by Phytochemicals against Cancer

Recently, the modulation of cellular signaling pathways by naturally occurring phytochemicals has been used to explain the molecular basis of cancer chemoprevention with dietary factors. Dietary chemo-preventive agents are derived from the fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, and beverages consumed daily by people.

 

Due to the fact that the incidence of cancer remains high all over the world, the concept of cancer intervention by means of those dietary phytochemicals needs to be more widely spread and accepted. As we have a better understanding of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of carcinogenesis at the level of signal transduction, additional molecular targets have been and will be identified for the potential intervention at the initiation, promotion and progression stages during carcinogenesis and cancer development.

 

So far, these molecular targets include transcription factors such as Nrt2, NF-κB, AP-1 and MAPKs. The signaling pathways mediated by these transcription factors in response to pro-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors, xenobiotics, oxidative stress and tumor promoters can adjust a wide arrangement of genes involved in many cellular events such as cell-cycle control, differentiation, transformation, apoptosis and carcinogenesis. Because of their potential role in preventing cancer from developing, the mechanisms by which phytochemicals regulate signaling pathways have been expanded and developed.

 

As an example, dietary chemo-preventive agents activate Nrf2-mediated gene expression either by directly modifying the cysteine residues on Keap1 to disrupt the Nrf2-Keap1 complex or by activating kinase signaling pathways such as MAPKs, protein kinase C (PKC), and PI3K to phosphorylate Nrf2/Keap1 complex and/or facilitate the release of Nrf2 or to increase the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and regulate the transcriptional activity of Nrf2 nuclear c0-activators. While many chemo-preventive agents directly act on the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway to induce detoxification and antioxidant enzyme systems, which may block tumor initiation in normal cells, the same compounds and/or others may exert anti-promotion or anti-progression effects by modulating the NF-κB and AP-1 signaling pathways in abnormal pre-initiated cancer cells. Cellular signaling cascades mediated by NF-κB and AP-1 generally act as key regulators of many of the aforementioned biochemical processes. Results from both in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that phytochemicals can inhibit the activation of NF-κB and/or AP-1 in a cell-or tissue-specific manner. Although experimental data from cell culture models provide valuable information regarding the molecular and cellular mechanisms, the signal transduction cascades between the interplay of phytochemicals and transcription factors are still not fully understood. For instance, although NF-κB and AP-1 may be considered as prime molecular targets for chemoprevention by dietary phytochemicals, cell type- and stimuli-dependency between these two transcription factors often makes it complied to deduce a unique mechanism for the chemo-preventive activity of phytochemicals.

 

While chemoprevention studies using animal models certainly provide promising results for the chemo-preventive agents discussed above, future confirmatory human clinical trials coupled with epidemiological data would be needed to support their eventual chemo-preventive potentials. The modulation of the above signaling pathways, transcription factors and genes expression by cancer chemo-preventive phytochemicals would provide potential opportunities for future design of chemo-preventive agents based on molecular targeting.

 

About Stanford Chemicals   http://www.bestherbalextract.com/

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

The Effect of Cytisine and Varenicline on Ethanol Consumption

Alcohol and nicotine are commonly co-abused. Approximately 60-80% heavy drinkers smoke tobacco, and it has been suggested that common genes are involved in the susceptibility to both alcohol and nicotine dependence. The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the predominant nAChR subtype in the brain, and it is proved to be effective on helping smokers keep absent from nicotine for a long time. A plant alkaloid called cytisine or citizin and varenicline developed from cytisine are two α4β2 nAChR partial agonists. They have been shown to be efficacious as smoking cessation aids. Varenicline and cytisine are high-affinity α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor partial agonists. However, both drugs can bind to other neuronal nAChRs with lower affinity. For example, Ki values for varenicline are 0.4, 86, 125, and 8200 nM for α4β2, α3β4, α7, and α1βγδ receptors, respectively, while the corresponding values for cytisine are 2.0, 480, 5890, and 492 nM, respectively, for the same receptors. Further, it is reported that varenicline has higher efficacy (22±2.5%) than cytisine (6.5±0.2%) relative to the effect of 100 μM acetylcholine.

There is a study aiming to compare the effects of varenicline and cytisine on ethanol consumption by rats bred for many generations as high ethanol drinkers. Results repeated dosing (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg/day i.p.) of varenicline or cytisine, for three consecutive days, to male UChB rats pre-exposed to 10% (v/v) ethanol and water 24 h/day for 4 weeks, significantly reduced alcohol intake and preference of ethanol over water during 1- and 24-h ethanol access periods. This effect was specific for ethanol intake and was not observed for 0.2% saccharin or water consumption. Varenicline appears to be more effective than cytisine, probably due to its more favorable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Long-term use of both nAChRs ligands for more than 8-10 days induced tolerance to their effects on ethanol consumption.

At present, it is hard to determine the precise function of the individual subunits of the nAChR acting in ethanol consumption in UChB rats due to the fact that varenicline and cytisine have diverse pharmacological profiles. Both ligands are high-affinity partial agonists at α4β2 nAChRs and low-affinity partial agonists at α3β4, α3β2, α4β4, and α6 nAChRs, and also low-affinity agonists at α7nAChRs. On the other hand, although it is well established that the α4β2 nAChR has an essential role in mediating nicotine’s rewarding properties, the subunit composition involved in ethanol’s rewarding properties remains controversial, since the role of other nAChR subtypes has been demonstrated. It has been shown that systemic ethanol increases dopamine release in the mesolimbic dopamine system, an effect that appears to require the stimulation of nAChRs. The ability of mecamylamine, a nonselective nAChRs antagonist, to inhibit alcohol intake and to antagonize the mesolimbic dopamine-activating properties of ethanol support this hypothesis.

A number of studies have indicated that ethanol interacts directly with α4β2 nAChRs where it acts as an allosteric modulator. However, the finding that blocking α4β2 nAChR with a selective antagonist, dihydro-β-erythroidine (DHβE), failed to reduce ethanol consumption in rodents did not support this notion. In addition, it is hypothesized in a study that partial agonists at α3β4 nAChRs decrease ethanol self-administration and consumption by indirectly modulating the mesolimbic dopaminergic system. The study demonstrated that high-affinity partial agonists at α3β4 nAChRs, CP-601932 and PF-4575180, reduce ethanol consumption and seeking in rats. Interestingly, the study also suggested that varenicline at doses of 1 and 2 mg/kg, that reduce ethanol intake, has a functional interaction with α3β4 nAChRs. Likewise, cytosine also has affinity for α3β4 nAChRs. Taken together, these results suggest that following 0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg doses, varenicline and cytisine might reach brain concentrations high enough to interact functionally with α3β4 nAChRs in UChB rats.

By Stanford Chemicals

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Use of Deoxyarbutin as a Viable Skin Treatment

Hyper pigmentation and skin discoloration is often caused due to allergies, scarring, ageing, etc. A discolored skin affects the overall personality of a person and most prefer to opt for surgeries to remove skin darkening and hyper pigmentation; but due to high cost involved in such treatments it becomes difficult for everyone to take up a surgery.

Proctor & Gamble researched and developed a natural compound – deoxyarbutin in 2002, which was tested on various patients affected by skin diseases and skin discoloring with surprising results. 69% of the patients responded well to the use of the compound, which made this technology a suitable and viable solution when compared to the existing compounds like hydroquinone which are widely used and accepted by various cosmetics companies available in the market.

Proctor & Gamble donated this technology to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Girindus AG, Germany in 2002; and licensed this technology to Girindus with an exclusive right to test the compound for skin treatments, it was observed and found during these experiments that the technology is effective in treatment of hyper pigmentation that occurs due to wounds, acne, skin burns & chronic inflammations, and scarring because of surgery and accidents.

Because this technology was began and supported by P&G, it evolved into an advanced and developed technology than is found in various academic research institutions like Girindus; hence this technology was soon launched into the market and was widely accepted by most of the companies to use in their products.

In this article we enlist 4 benefits of using deoxyarbutin as a compound for treatment of skin discoloration:

1. Less Skin Irritation – as tested by P&G this technology was widely used by various cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies for fighting skin diseases, it was also inferred during this experiment that it had 80% less skin irritation cases when compared to other compounds like hydroquinone.
2. Stability – deoxyarbutin evaporates less than any other compounds used in skin treatments, which makes it more stable and allows deeper skin penetration with greater “bioavailability”. It absorbs better with skin and removes the darkening spots and lightens skin marks.
3. Skin Lightening – other skin treatment technologies like glycolic and lactic acid, which are most commonly used for skin lightening as bleaching agents have various side effects like skin inflammation and skin burns, while deoxyarbutin is comparatively soft and has better skin lightening effects.
4. Economic Treatment – unlike other skin treatments like surgery and medical prescriptions, deoxyarbutin is comparatively less expensive and can be adopted by most of the people in the world; this technology is widely available in various cosmetics and other pharmaceutical products and can be purchased easily on cheap prices.

To conclude – if you have been stuck inside your home for too long just because of skin marks and discoloration, don’t read anymore articles just move out purchase a sample product containing deoxyarbutin and change the way people look at you; at the same like all treatments don’t overdo anything and before you buy it, just talk to a skin specialist about viability of deoxyarbutin for your skin type.

By Stanford Chemicals

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Secrets to Reduce the Aging of Skin

Growing awareness of the aging effects has raised the thought about skin consciousness in minds of many people around the globe. With scientists trying to find a way to keep the life sustainable, aging has been implicated as the culprit behind everything from wrinkles to skin discoloring, and even pigmentation. You can’t develop immunity to aging yourself; there’s no vaccine, but there are ways to make your skin look young and healthy.

It has been recommended that diet and lifestyle changes can control effects of aging on skin and can improve skin color and tone in a very significant manner.

Here is a list of things which you can easily apply to your lifestyle to reduce the effect of aging on your skin:

1. Eat Fresh and Veg – A research has shown that people who eat only vegetarian food have an undeniable glow on their skin. Hence, taking a diet with good food supplements (fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains like rice and oatmeal) which contain rich amount of anti-oxidants can indefinitely improve glow on your skin.
2. Exercise Regularly – A study has proved that exercising everyday can add life to skin of a human, the only reason why athletes look younger than they are; hence it definitely helps you in looking good and improving your overall personality. Target 10-30 minutes of exercise everyday and you might see a bid difference yourself.
3. Sleep Well – The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) reports that too less of sleep (less than six hours) and too much of sleep (more than eight hours) are prime reasons for allergies and other stomach diseases; and this definitely makes your skin look aged and old. The right amount of sleep every adult needs is between seven to eight hours.

While experts were advising people to change their diet supplements, sleep timings and exercising schedules; researchers were working hard over finding a compound which would reduce effects on aging on skin tone and color without any side effects.

After years of research and development, one technology was developed and adopted by most of the cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies, which was not only able to reduce the effects of aging but also, improved the skin color by skin lightening properties prevalent in “deoxyarbutin“.

Recent scientific research shows that deoxyarbutin is suggested to have properties for deeper skin penetration and negligible skin irritation. There are other technologies like hydroquinone, glycolic and lactic acid; which are available in the market in form of cosmetics and have been widely accepted for skin treatments, but they lack the soberness and softness that deoxyarbutin possesses.

Deoxyarbutin is tested well and is effective in treatment of skin discoloration and pigmentation due to aging, acne, scarring, skin burns and chronic inflammations; it has properties to deal with skin problems of people aging from 18 to 65+. I would recommend you to buy cosmetic and pharmaceutical products containing this healing compound for your and use deoxyarbutin for reducing the effects of aging.

By Stanford Chemicals

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Interaction between Herbal Medicines and Chemical Medicines

As a kind of medicine and supplement, plant products tend to be more popular at present. It is estimated that 1/3 people in developed countries choose selective therapies associated with herbal medicine. Herbal medicine is generally used in conjunction with prescription drugs to increase the possibility of the interaction between pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Clinical researches show that combination drugs could increase or reduce pharmacodynamic effects. Synergistic or additional therapeutic effects may produce toxicity and complicate the dosage regimen of long-term medication, while antagonism may reduce pharmacodynamic effects and lead to treatment failure. Safety issues are worth attention, especially for those medicines with low therapeutic index which may produce side effects and even threat to life. The mechanism that how combined herbal medicines change drug concentration needs to be identified, however, some researches prompt that it may has relations with induction and inhibition of deeply drug metabolic enzymes and drug carriers.

 

There are an increasing number of reports of interaction between herbal medicine and chemical medicine. Such interaction is likely to occur more often than that between chemical medicine and chemical medicine, whose reasons probably include: most patients didn’t reveal facts of using herbal medicine to doctors; herbal medicine is used base on traditional medicine, which is not scientifically pre-clinically and clinically evaluated; lack of good quality control to herbal medicine and unable to fully confirmed the constituent; many countries have no comprehensive supervising systems to monitor adverse reaction of herbal medicine and interaction of herbal medicine and chemical medicine; single herbs include many active constituents, each of which probably contributes to pharmacodynamic effects and drug interactions more or less, so it is more difficult to speculate the interactive mechanisms.

 

As an example, garlic is widely used as an herbal medicine, and it is reported to have antimicrobial function and enhance immunity function. It is often used to improve physical condition of patients infected with HIV and to treat infection. The main bioactive constituent is organic sulfur compounds. It is evaluated recently on the effect of garlic extracts on internal metabolism and excretion of dextromethorphan and alprazolam. External research and animal studies show that effects on enzymatic activities and expression of Cytochrome P450(CYP) depend on the types, chemical constituents and dosage of garlic extracts. Clinical reports show that 2 patients infected with HIV developed severe gastrointestinal toxicity after receiving antiretroviral therapy including ritonavir, who were administrated with garlic extracts for more than 2 weeks. The symptom was subsided after discontinuing garlic extracts or ritonavir. And gastrointestinal symptoms relapsed after given ritonavir with low dosage again. The reason leading to the toxicity was probably that ritonavir inhibited or induced the metabolism of constituents and produced toxicity of compounds. In addition, constituents of garlic probably inhibited the metabolism of ritonavir mediated by CYP3A or the transportation mediated by P-glycolprotein (P-gp), which resulted in the elevated concentration of ritonavir. Garlic has been used as food additives of patients infected with HIV, so it is necessary to remind patients that there is potential harm for the drug combination of garlic with saquinavir or ritonavir and other protease inhibitor.

 

About Stanford Chemicals

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.

Healthy Effects of Ursolic Acid on Fat

Many herbs and edible fruits contain ursolic acid. Ursolic acid contributes to the waxy coating of fruits such as apples. Some folk herbal medicines used to treat diabetes also have this lipophilic pentacyclic triterpenoid. Ursolic acid improves bone health by enhancing skeletal muscle insulin. It improves muscle hypertrophy and reduces blood sugar and adiposity.

This substance has remarkable effects on fatty diets. It reduces obesity and its attendant complications through muscular Akt activity which leads to increased energy expenditure. In an experiment with mice fed on a high fat diet, increased muscular Akt activity was spurred by ursolic acid.

Another experiment with transgenic mice revealed a higher concentration of active Akt, particularly in the skeletal muscle. Apart from skeletal muscle hypertrophy, there was a reduction in total body fat, increased energy expenditure, glucose intolerance, reduction in white fat and hepatic steatosis. Ursolic acid has been found to boost brown fat levels.

Ursolic acid effects on brown fat

Brown fat has a high rate of energy expenditure that protects you against obesity. The acid has a stimulating effect on the skeletal muscle which in turn stirs energy expenditure. There is speculation that brown fat plays an important role. It is suggested that ursolic acid boosts your brown fat and skeletal muscle. This in turn leads to higher energy expenditure which is responsible for the resistance in diet-induced obesity, glucose intolerance and fatty liver disease.

Further investigations are necessary to determine whether brown fat in the mice treated with ursolic acid is metabolically active. The liver, white fat and glucose homeostasis are also subjected to related effects of ursolic acid. Further studies are required to establish whether ursolic acid has a direct or indirect effect on brown fat, liver and white fat.

It is still uncertain how ursolic acid increases brown fat. The increased brown fat could possibly be a secondary effect that accompanies the reduced insulating white fat. An alternative explanation is that ursolic acid leads to increased sympathetic activity, as is known to cause brown fat expansion.

Findings have revealed that the acid causes a slight reduction in the heart rate and no alteration in blood sugar. These findings do not support a systematic increase in the sympathetic activity. Sympathetic outflow to the brown fat is not associated to the outflow to other organs. This means it is important to measure directly if any sympathetic outflow to the brown fat is altered by the ursolic acid.

The third possibility is that direct action of ursolic acid on brown fat is what stimulates its growth. One means through which the acid increases skeletal muscle is by enhancement of the insulin receptors and the ligand dependent auto-phosphorylation. The same precursor cells are responsible for the formation of skeletal muscle and brown fat. The growth of brown fat, on the other hand, is promoted by insulin signaling. Speculatively, brown fat and skeletal muscle are increased by ursolic acid via a common molecular activity. Based on a recent study, multiple receptors could be involved in this mechanism.

Benefits of ursolic acid as a slimming formula

There are many slimming products that contain ursolic acid in the market. Not all brands may provide the desired results. When choosing a brand to use stick with, choose the ones that extract ursolic acid in its pure form.

It is important to avoid junk food whenever you are using this formula. Junk food contains low density lipoproteins which are deposited in your blood vessels, adipose tissue and belly. Ursolic acid fights off bad cholesterol that can enter your body through the consumption of junk food which is manufactured using unhealthy ingredients.

Ursolic acid suppresses your appetite. When your food cravings are suppressed, you are more likely to lose weight. When meals are taken in small quantities, the body gets a chance to use up stored fats. When you take larger meals, the body will only use energy from the food you consume.

When using this product, it is important to drink lots of water. Water helps your body to get rid of toxins. It is also important to take plenty of water while using this formula to help increase your metabolic rate.

Ursolic acid should not be taken over the recommended limits. Going over limit can increase the development of your skeletal muscle. Overconsumption of the product is tantamount to drug abuse; otherwise ursolic acid can benefit health a lot. It is important to enroll the services of a dietician when using this formula. It is also wise to stick to the company’s directions on how to use it.

Summary

Ursolic acid increases skeletal muscle, brown fat and energy expenditure in mice fed on high fat diets to induce obesity. Such effects are linked to increased exercise capability, strength and reduced obesity. Other effects include decreased hepatic steatosis and enhanced glucose tolerance. In the wake of such preclinical data, further studies are recommended in human beings. If it is proved that ursolic acid exhibits the same effects in humans as in mice, then it can be useful as a therapeutic agent.

Some metabolic dietary disorders that it may alleviate are Type II diabetes, skeletal muscle atrophy, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and obesity. Some benefits of ursolic acid include remedy for liver disease, pain relief from arthritis, etc. Ursolic acid should not be used as primary treatment for arthritis, cancer and heart disease. When using it as a slimming formula, stick to the directions given or always consult your doctor in special situations.

 

About Stanford Chemicals

Stanford Chemicals is a worldwide supplier of phytochemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, catalysts, lab equipment and a variety of special fine chemical products since 1994. To meet increasing demands for herbal extracts in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, Stanford Chemicals is established and now carries hundreds kinds of herbal extracts, including botanical ingredients and standard herbal extracts.