Researches of Pueraria Mirifica

Pueraria mirifica, Conjugated equine estrogen, Medroxyprogesterone acetate, Vasomotor symptoms, Perimenopausal women, Phytoestrogen

Pueraria Mirifica is a tuberous plant enriched with active phytoestrogens. There is no established information about the factors influencing isoflavonoid storage int he tubers. We investigated the tuberous storage of the major isoflavonoids of 1-year-old plants. Four culivars of P. mirifica were cultivated in the same field trail during the same period to establish a unique plant age and differentiation under the same envionment and soil conditions. The tubers collected from the 1-year-old plants in the summer, rainy season and winter were submitted to an HPLC analysis with a gradient system comprising 0.1% acetic acid and acetonitrile. Five major isoflavonoids, puerarin, daidzin, genistin, daidzein and genistein, were adopted as standards. P. Mirifica tubers of different cultivars collected in the same season exhibited significant differences in individual and total isoflavonoid contents, showing chemovariety. P. mirifica tubers of the same cultivar collected from different seasons also exhibited significant differences in individual and total isoflavonoid contents, showing the influence of season. In conclusion, the tuberous storage of major isoflavonoids in 1-year-cultivated plants was greatly diverse and was strongely influenced by the season and plant genetics.

Pretreatment with phytoestrogen-rich plant decreases breast tumor incidence and exhibits lower profile of mammary ERα and ERβ

Objective: Phytoestrogens have been reported to exhibit antiproliferation to human breast cancer cells in vitro. We tested the phytoestrogen-rich, Pueraria mirifica against rat breast cancer induction in vivo.

Methods: The weanling female Spargue–Dawley rats were pretreated with P. mirifica tuberous powder at a dosage of 0, 10, 100 and 1000 mg/kg BW/day for four consecutive weeks. Mammary tumor development was then induced with a single dose of 7,12-DMBA, 80 mg/kg BW, followed by a weekly examination for size and multiplicity of mammary tumors for 20 weeks and finally a necropsy. Mammary tissues were investigated for the virulence of tumor and also monoclonal antibody stained against ERα and ERβ.

Results : Pretreatment of 1000 mg/(kgBWday) of P. mirifica tuberous powder resulted in decreasing of the virulence of rat tumor development. The mammary tumor tissues exhibited lower profile of ERα and ERβ as well a sERα and ERβ

Conclusion :P. mirifica exhibited prevention of 7,12-DMBA-induced rat mammary tumors, with a proposed mechanism of strong competitive binding of its phytoestrogens to ERα and/or synthesis suppressor of ERα.

Pueraria Mirifica initiative promotes the cellular mechanism of neuronal survival in neuron human neuroblastoma cells.

Pueraria Mirifica (PM) or White Kwao Krue (Thai Herb) has been used as a rejuvenator for long time in aging. It contains a variety of phytoestrogens that possess the highest estrogenic activity. In molecular research and epidemiological data show that estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) can decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Interestingly, whether the estrogenic effect of PM can prevent neurotrophic from neurotoxic agents e.g. glutamate, H2O2, and beta-amyloid 25-35 in AD model. What a mechanism of PM that prevents neuronal cell death is.

Objectives: The current study investigated the neurotrophic and neuroprotective action of the complex formulation of phytoestrogen from a standardized PM extract compare with 17b-estradiol in AD model in vitro.

Methods: Crude PM was extracted by ethanol and standardized by HPLC. Action of standarize PM was pretreated in human neuroblastoma cell line (LA-N5) in complete media of estrogen deprivation condition with neurotoxic agents; 0.2mM glutamate, 20µM H2O2, and 8 µg/ml beta-amyloid 25-35 by inhibit cell death. By using inverted microscope, morphologic and biochemical analysis were conducted in neuroblastoma cultures to determine the neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties of standardize PM and 17b-estradiol. Using ICI anti-estrogenic activity and estrogen dependent breast cancer cell for demonstrate the inhibition of PM in estrogen receptor pathway in AD model.

Results: the results demonstrated that PM significantly decreased neuronal cell death in a time and dose dependent fashion. Results of neuroprotection studies demonstrated that PM and 10-8 M 17b-estradiol induced highly significant neuroprotection against beta-amyloid, hydrogen peroxide, glutamate-induced toxicity. Inhibi action of PM and 17b-estradiol by estrogen antagonist (ICI164,384) after induce with neurotoxic agents that show significantly increase cell death.

Conclusions: PM shows estrogenic activity similar 17b-estradiol and prevents neurotoxic agents for neuronal dead significantly by may pass estrogen pathway. For clinical application of PM possible to use for intervention in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disease in aging in the near future.

The Estrogenic Effect of Pueraria mirifica on Gonadotrophin Levels in Aged Monkeys

We investigated the effect of Pueraria mirifica (PM) on gonadotrophin and estradiol levels in aged animals; nine menopausal cynomolgus monkeys were divided into three groups. Each group (n = 3) was fed with 10, 100, and 1000 mg/d of PM for 90 d. PM-10 induced the decrease of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels on d 15–90 in one out of three monkeys. PM-100 and PM-1000 decreased FSH levels of all monkeys throughout the treatment period. After the treatment period, FSH levels continued to decrease for 5 and 10– 20 d in PM-100 and PM-1000, respectively, and the levels rebounded in all groups thereafter. PM-10 decreased luteinizing hormone (LH) levels throughout the treatment period in one out of three monkeys and returned to the pretreatment levels immediately after stopping treatment. PM-100 and PM-1000 prominently decreased LH levels between d 10 and 90 during treatment and persisted until d 15–25 and d 20–30 for PM- 100 and PM-1000, respectively, during the post-treatment period. Serum LH levels rebounded after returning to pre-treatment levels in a dose-dependent manner. Estradiol levels tended to decrease during the treatment period in all groups. The daily feeding of PM suppressed gonadotrophin levels in aged menopausal monkeys based on dose. Moreover, they can be recovered, and there is a direct correlation between dosage and recovery time. PM may be effective as an alternative medicine in menopausal women because the effects are not permanent.