Narrow Results

Breviscapine is a commercially produced plant extract from the Chinese herb Erigeron breviscapus. (Vant.) Hand.-Mazz., which contains 2 main flavonoids. It is widely used in clinic to treat ischemic diseases in which free radicals are considered to be the main causal factor. Our study is aimed to examine the antioxidant activity of this extract. The following assays were employed: 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging, total anti-oxidative capacity, and antilipid peroxidation assays. Breviscapine was demonstrated to show an effective activity on scavenging DPPH, superoxide anion radicals and nitric oxide. The total antioxidative capacity of breviscapine (7.8 μg/ml to 250 μg/ml) was 1.22 to 6.74 FRAP value (× 10^-5 mmol). At the highest concentration of breviscapine, the inhibition extent of lipid peroxidation induced by Fe²⁺ in rat liver homogenates was 38.5%. Because of the antioxidant activity, the present study is therefore designed to investigate the therapeutic potential of breviscapine for treatment of ischemic diseases.

Breviscapine is one of the extracts of several flavonoids of Erigeron breviscapus. Scutellarin is the main active component of breviscapine, and the qualitative or quantitative criteria as well. Scutellarin and its analogs share a similar skeleton of the flavonoids. Breviscapine has been widely used in the treatment of cerebral infarction and its sequelae, cerebral thrombus, coronary heart disease (CHD), and angina pectoris. Breviscapine has a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, such as increasing blood flow, improving microcirculation, dilating blood vessels, decreasing blood viscosity, promoting fibrinolysis, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and thrombosis formation, etc. In addition, breviscapine and its analogs have significant value for drug research and development because of the superiority of those significant bioactivities. Furthermore, an increasing number of pharmacokinetic studies have explored the mechanism of scutellarin and its analogs. To provide a comprehensive understanding of the current research on breviscapine, scutellarin, and the analogs, the structural features, distribution situation, preparation method, content determination method, clinical applications, pharmacological action as well as pharmacokinetics are summarized in the present review.

Shenzhen biotech companies building the world’s largest cell bank in Guizhou.

China’s cancer researcher shares 2018’s Sjoberg Prize of Sweden.

Breakthrough may help with earlier detection of heart attacks and cancer.

New dialyzer to isolate bacteria from unprocessed blood.

Chinese scientists develop new protocols for DNA-free genome editing in wheat.

Synthesized herbs to treat cardio-cerebrovascular disease.

Chinese scientists find antidote to centipede venom.

Grünenthal and Mundipharma enter commercial partnership in China.

Tencent and Medopad to cooperate on medical AI.

Majority of oncology clinical trials in China failed to meet enrolment targets.

WuXi STA and Regulus announce microRNA development and manufacturing collaboration.