Chestnuts, saponin

Rothkopf M, Vogel G, Lang W, Leng E. Animal experiments on the question of the renal toleration of the horse chestnut saponin aescin. Arzneimittel-Forschung 1977 27 598-605.1979 29 672-5. 

The carbohydrate moiety usually contains one to six monosaccharide units, the most common of these being glucose, galacto.se, rhamnose, arahinose, facose, xylose, glucuronic and galacturonic acid. The horse chestnut saponins are partly esterified with aliphatic acids. 

Herbs rich in podophyllotoxin 3-Aescin (saponin mixture from horse-chestnut seed)... 

Plant materials often contain triterpenoid saponin in considerable amounts. With regard to plants with antiulcer activity, licorice root contains about 2 to 12% of glycyrrhizic acid and the seeds of the horse chestnut up to 13% of aescin. Several plants containing high amounts have been shown to possess antiulcer activity in several experimental ulcer models (Table 64.2). 

Aescin is a complex mixture of triterpene saponins prepared from the seeds of the horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. It consists of a water-soluble fraction (alpha-aescin) and a water-insoluble fraction (beta-aescin). 

HORSE CHESTNUT, AescuU semen is the seed of Aesculus hippocastanum (L.), family Hippocastanaceae. The seed contains a triterpene saponin mixture usually referred to as Aescin. Aescin gives prolonged... 

Cases of acute renal failure have been reported in children who were intravenously administered injections of 0.5 mg/ kg (approximately 2 to 3 times the recommended dose) of aescin (a mixture of saponins from horse chestnut) for an... 

In trials assessing the renal effects of intravenously administered aescin (a mixture of saponins from horse chestnut 10 to 25 mg daily for 3 to 10 days), no impairment of renal function was observed in patients with healthy kidneys, and no worsening of function was observed in patients with renal impairment (Ascher 1977 Bastian and Valilensieck 1976 Sirtori 2001 Wilhelm and Feldmeier 1975). 

Use Like other coumarins as light- and sun-protection agent. Drugs to treat varicose veins, sports injuries, hemorrhoids, and thrombosis often contain horse chestnut extracts the vascular sealing effect is attributed not only to aesculetin but also to the saponin es-cin. Aesculin is used in UV filters. 

Eocin. A mixture of more than 30 different saponins isolable from (horse) chestnuts (Aesculus hippocasta-num, Hippocastanaceae) consisting mainly (up to... 

CAS 6805-41-0 EINECS/ELINCS 229-880-6 Definition Saponin occurring in the seed of the horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum Empirical C54H84O23... 

Unsaturated and hydroxylated triterpenes and steroids give colored products with aromatic aldehydes in strong mineral acids, with acetic anhydride in sulfuric acid, and with inorganic salts (cerium(IV) sulfate and antimony(III) chloride, for example) in an acidic solution. These reactions have been used as the basis for determination of saponins. The analysis of Ginseng radix (Panax ginseng, Araliaceae) in Pharmacopoeia Helvetica VII, for example, relies on reaction with glacial acetic acid/sulfuric acid and spectrophotometric determination at 520 nm of the red product. The jS-aescine component of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum, Hippocastan-aceae) saponin can be determined spectrophoto-metrically after treatment with a mixture of iron(III) chloride, acetic acid, and sulfuric acid. 

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