Flavonoids licorice root

Chalcones are one of the classes of flavonoids well known for their antiplasmodial properties. Licochalcone A (65), isolated from Chinese licorice roots, was shown to display strong in vitro activity against both chloroquine-susceptible (3D7) and chloroquine-resistant (Dd2) P. falciparum strains it also displayed a strong in vivo acitivity in mice infected with P. yoelii, when administered intraperitoneally or orally for 3 to 6 days. The compound appeared to inhibit the growth of the parasites at all stages (rings, trophozoites, and schizonts). Although licochalcone and some derivatives interred the clinical trials as anti-malarials, none of them have ever made it to the market due to severe toxicity observed in phase II clinical trials. 

Kitagawa, I. et al.. Chemical studies of Chinese licorice-roots. I. Elucidation of five new flavonoid constituents from the roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra collected in Xinjiang, Chem. Pharm. Bull., 42, 1056, 1994. 

Hatano T, Kagawa H, Yasuhara T, Okuda T. Two new flavonoids and other constituents in licorice root their relative astringency and radical scavenging effects. Chemical Pharmaceulical Bulletin. 1988 36(6) 2090-2097. 

Aviram, M., Vaya, J., and Fuhrman, B., Licorice root flavonoid antioxidants reduce LDL oxidation and attenuate cardiovascular diseases, in Herbal medicines Molecular basis of biological activity and health, Packer L., Halliwel B., and Nam Qng, C. (eds.), Marcel Dekker, New York, 27, 595, 2004. 

A traditional remedy frequently used in gastrointestinal phytomedicine has been licorice root, Glizyrrhiza glabra. Its gastroprotective effects are attributable to its flavonoids, the flavone liquiritoside and chalcone isoliquiritoside (1-1.5%), which induce defensive mechanisms of the gastric mucosa such as the stimulation of mucous secretion and also... 

Fu B, Su BN, TakaisM Y, Honda G, Ito M, Takeda Y, KodzMmatov OK, Ashurmetov O (2001) A bis-sesquiterpene and sesquiterpenoUdes from Inula macrophylla. Phytochemistry 58(7) 1121-1128 Fu Y, Hsieh TC, Guo J, Kunicki J, Lee MY, DarzynMewicz Z, Wu IM (2004) Licochalcone-A, a novel flavonoid isolated from licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra), causes G2 and late-Gl arrests in androgen-independent PC-3 prostate cancer cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 322(l) 263-270... 

Hatano, T., H. Kagawa, T. Yasuhara, and T. Okuda Two New Flavonoids and Other Constituents in Licorice Root Their Relative Astringency and Radical Scavenging Effects. Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan), 36, 2090 (1988). 

Zeng, L., R.-Y. Zhang, T. Meng, and Z.-C. Lou Determination of Nine Flavonoids and Coumarins in Licorice Root by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. J. Chromatogr., 513, 247 (1990). 

Kusano, a., T. Nikaido, T. Kuge, T. Ohmoto, G.D. Monache, B. Botta, M. Botta, and T. Saitoh Inhibition of Adenosine 3, 5 -Cyclic Monophosphate Phosphodiesterase by Flavonoids from Licorice Roots and 4-Arylcoumarins. Chem. Pharm. Bull. (Japan), 39, 930 (1991). 

Licorice root contains flavonoids with biological activities, several of which were isolated and purified. Licochalcone B and D, isolated from the roots... 

Those that have been identified in recent times include flavonoids,212-214 aurothiomalate,215 hydrangenol,216 occurring in the leaves of Hydrangea, tannins,217 derivatives of tranilast,218 curcumin,219 an extract of the spice turmeric, glycyrrhizin,220 found in the roots and rhizomes of licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), used as an effective antiinflamatory agent in Chinese medicine. 

The antimicrobial effects of licorice may extend beyond antiviral activity. Licochalcone A, a flavonoid component of licorice found in alcoholic root extracts, has been found to inhibit the growth of Leishmania major and Leishmania donovani promastigotes and amastigotes in vitro (Chen et al., 1993). Licochalcone A appears to elicit its toxic effects upon the protozoal mitochondria in concentrations that do not harm human leukocytes. 

This licorice is the main species in Xinjiang licorice and is used as a crude drug in China (79). In our study of a commercially available Xinjiang licorice, the crude drug consisted of G. inflata (50%), G. eurycarpa (7.5%), G. uralensis (2.5%) and some unidentified material (40%) that may represent hybrids 294). About sixty phenolic compounds have been isolated. The main phenols in the roots of G. inflata are liquiritin (110, 0.2-0.6%) and isoliqiritin (109, 0.1-0.5%) (36), and the main isoprenoid-substituted flavonoids are licochalcone A (213, 0.12%) and glabrone (128, 0.065%) (295). 

Afchar, D., a. Cave, H. Guinaudeau, and J. Vaquette Study of Licorices from Iran. 3. Flavonoids from Glycyrrhiza echinata L. Roots. Plant. Med. Phytother., 18, 170 (1984) Chem. Abstr., 102, 12885W (1985). 

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