Scutellaria lateriflora

Bergeron, C. et al.. Comparison of the chemical composition of extracts from Scutellaria lateriflora using accelerated solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction versus standard hot water or 70% ethanol extraction, J. Agric. Food Chem., 53, 3076, 2005. 

Awad R, Amason JT, Trudeau V, et al. Phytochemical and biological analysis of skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora L.) a medicinal plant with anxiolytic properties. Phytomedicine 2003 10 640-649. 

Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) is an herb that has been used in Chinese and Western medicine for sedative and antiseizure effects (Wong et al. 1998). Its pharmacological and behavioral effects have not been established in animals or humans. 

United States. Hot water extract of the dried rhizome is taken orally as a carminative in flatulent colic and when a warming effect is needed . Wine extract of the dried rhizome, together with Viburnum opulus, Scutellaria lateriflora, Symplocarous foetidus, and Syzygium aromaticum, is taken as an antispasmodic . 

N.A. Scutellaria lateriflora L. Scutellarin, baicalin, baicalein, wogonin, benzoic acid, catalpol, tannins, beta-sitosterol, camphesterol, stigmasterol.99-102-163 Sedative and antispasmodic, prevent epileptic seizures, tonic, antispasmodic, antiallergic. 

HT receptor Quercetin Puerarin Scutellaria lateriflora flavonoids extract Xenopus laevis oocytes Rat cerebral cortex CHO cells Inhibition Inhibition Inhibition Lee et ah, 2005 Overstreet et ah, 2003 Gafner et ah, 2003... 

Gafner S, Bergeron C, Batcha LL, Reich J, Arnason JT, Burdette JE, Pezzuto JM, Angerhofer CK. 2003. Inhibition of [3H]-LSD binding to 5-HT7 receptors by flavonoids from Scutellaria lateriflora. J Nat Prod 66 535-537. 

Although Western skullcap formulations are supposed to come from Scutellaria lateriflora, it is unclear whether it is responsible for the liver damage that has been associated with skullcap. In the UK, the American germander (Teucrium canadense) has been widely used to replace S. lateriflora in commercial skullcap materials and products. In one UK case of skuUcap-associated hepatotoxicity, the material was found to come from T. canadense. This raises the possibility that other cases of skullcap toxicity may also have involved Teucrium rather than Scutellaria (16). 

Scutellaria N.F. Entire plant Scutellaria lateriflora United States and Canada... 

Cases of acute hepatitis linked to the use of Jin Bu Huan are less clear, because adulteration with levo-tetrahydropalmatine, an alkaloid present in Stephania and Corydalis, has been implicated (Brent, 1998 Woolf et al., 1994). Similarly, adulteration may be the cause of a fatal case of VOD attributed to skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), because this plant does not contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids associated with this syndrome. Nonetheless, in one instance, skullcap was implicated in a case of mild flulike symptoms associated with jaundice and abnormal liver function test results (Enlow, 1996). 

Scutellaria, Skullcap helmet flower. Dried overground portion of Scutellaria lateriflora L., Labiaiae. Habit. North America. Constit. Scutellarin. volatile oil, tannin. 

Wolfson, P, and D.L. Hoffmann. 2003. An investigation into the efficacy of Scutellaria lateriflora in healthy volimteers. Altern. Ther. Health Med. 9(2) 74-78. 

---