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Evaluation of 5α‐reductase inhibitory activity of certain herbs useful as antiandrogens
Author(s) -
Nahata A.,
Dixit V. K.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
andrologia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.633
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1439-0272
pISSN - 0303-4569
DOI - 10.1111/and.12115
Subject(s) - traditional medicine , finasteride , reductase , myristica fragrans , tribulus terrestris , phyllanthus , petroleum ether , chemistry , botany , biochemistry , enzyme , biology , medicine , traditional chinese medicine , chromatography , prostate , genetics , alternative medicine , cancer , pathology , extraction (chemistry)
Summary This study demonstrates 5α‐reductase inhibitory activity of certain herbs useful in the management of androgenic disorders. G anoderma lucidum ( C urtis) P . K arst ( GL ), U rtica dioica Linn. ( UD ), C aesalpinia bonducella F leming. ( CB ), T ribulus terrestris L inn. ( TT ), P edalium murex L inn. ( PM ), S phaeranthus indicus L inn. ( SI ), C uscuta reflexa R oxb. ( CR ), C itrullus colocynthis S chrad. ( CC ), B enincasa hispida C ogn. ( BH ), P hyllanthus niruri L inn. ( PN ) and E chinops echinatus L inn. ( EE ) were included in the study. Petroleum ether, ethanol and aqueous extracts of these herbs were tested for their 5α‐reductase inhibitory activity against the standard 5α‐reductase inhibitor, finasteride. A biochemical method to determine the activity of 5α‐reductase was used to evaluate the inhibition of different extracts to the enzyme. The optical density ( OD ) value of each sample was measured continuously with ultraviolet spectrophotometer for the reason that the substrate NADPH has a specific absorbance at 340 nm. As the enzyme 5α‐reductase uses NADPH as a substrate, so in the presence of 5α‐reductase inhibitor, the NADPH concentration will increase with the function of time. This method thus implicates the activity of 5α‐reductase. The method proved to be extremely useful to screen the herbs for their 5α‐reductase inhibitory potential. GL , UD , BH , SI and CR came out to be promising candidates for further exploring their antiandrogenic properties.