Ammi majus, coumarins

The dried ripe fruits of Ammi visnaga (Umbelliferae/Apiaceae) have a long history of use in the Middle East as an antispasmodic and for the treatment of angina pectoris. The drug contains small amounts of coumarin derivatives, e.g. visnadin (Figure 3.40) (compare Ammi majus, a rich source of furocoumarins, page 146), but the major constituents (2-4%) are... 

Umbelliferone (= Dichrin A Hydrangin 7-Hydroxycoumarin Skimmetin) (coumarin) Terpene Artemisia capillari (Asteraceae), Ammi majus, Apium, Ferula, Heracleum, Pimpinella spp. (Apiaceae), Aegk marmelos, Citrus grandis (Rutaceae), Hydrangea paniculata (Saxifragaceae), Atropa belladonna (Solanaceae) [root] AR (bovine lens) (30) 14.5t... 

Ekiert, H. and Gomolka, E. (2000) Coumarin compounds in Ammi majus L. callus cultures. Pharmazie, 55, 684-7. 

Elgamal, M.H.A., Shalaby, N.M.M., Duddeck, H. and Hiegemann, M. (1993) Coumarins and coumarin glucosides from the fruits of Ammi majus. Phytochemistry, 34, 819-23. 

Hamerski, D., Schmitt, D. and Matern, U. (1990) Induction of two prenyltransferases for the accumulation of coumarin phytoalexins in elicitor-treated Ammi majus cell suspension cultures. Phytochemistry, 29,1131-5. 

Kaiser, et al. [276] studied another example of inhibition of phosphorylation process by coumarins. In that study, it was shown that imperatorin, a fiiranocoumarin from Imperatoria ostruthium L. and Ammi majus L., inhibited respiration and phosphorylation of isolated mitochondria of the liver in the presence of succinate [276,326]. 

Cell suspension cultures of Ammi majus propagated continuously in the dark produced only the coumarin umbelli-ferone (2). The addition of fungal cell wall fractions induced... 

Hamerski, D, R. C. Beier, R. E. Kneusel, U. Matern, and K. Himmelspach, Accumulation of coumarins in elicitor-treated cell suspension cultures of Ammi majus. Phytochemistry, 29, 1137-1142 (1990b). 

Ammirin, a New Coumarin Constituent from Ammi majus L. Fruits. 

Furanocoumarins have been used in folk medicine for a long time. The Indian sacred book Atharva Veda describes the treatment of leukoderma (vitiligo) using a poultice from a plant now known as Psoralea corylifolia, and the ancient Egyptians used Ammi majus for the same disorder. The first furano-coumarin, 5-methoxypsoralen, was isolated in 1838 by Kalbrunner from bergamot oil. 

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