Psoralea corylifolia
Encyclopedia
Psoralea corylifolia is an important plant in the Indian
Culture of India
India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food and customs differ from place to place within the country, but nevertheless possess a commonality....

 Ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...

 and Tamil Siddha systems of medicine
History of medicine
All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for birth, death, and disease. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to witchcraft, demons, astral influence, or the will of the gods...

, and also Chinese medicine. The seeds of this plant contain a variety of coumarin
Coumarin
Coumarin is a fragrant chemical compound in the benzopyrone chemical class, found in many plants, notably in high concentration in the tonka bean , vanilla grass , sweet woodruff , mullein , sweet grass , cassia cinnamon and sweet clover...

s including psoralen
Psoralen
Psoralen is the parent compound in a family of natural products known as furocoumarins. It is structurally related to coumarin by the addition of a fused furan ring, and may be considered as a derivative of umbelliferone...

. The seeds have a variety of medicinal uses, but the specific role (if any) of psoralen in these uses is unknown. Psoralen itself has a number of commercial uses. An extract of the plant's fruit Fructus psoraleæ has been shown to act as a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor
Norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor
A norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor is a drug which acts as a reuptake inhibitor for the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine by blocking the action of the norepinephrine transporter and the dopamine transporter , respectively...

.

P. corylifolia extract contains a number of bioactive compounds that are the molecular basis of its action, including flavonoids (neobavaisoflavone, isobavachalcone, bavachalcone, bavachinin, bavachin, corylin, corylifol, corylifolin and 6-prenylnaringenin), coumarins (psoralidin, psoralen
Psoralen
Psoralen is the parent compound in a family of natural products known as furocoumarins. It is structurally related to coumarin by the addition of a fused furan ring, and may be considered as a derivative of umbelliferone...

, isopsoralen and angelicin
Angelicin
Angelicin is a furanocoumarin. It can be found in Bituminaria bituminosa. It is present in the list of IARC Group 3 carcinogens ....

) and meroterpenes (bakuchiol
Bakuchiol
Bakuchiol is a natural phenol and a meroterpene found in Psoralea corylifolia and in Otholobium pubescens....

 and 3-hydroxybakuchiol).

One study in rats suggested that bakuchiol
Bakuchiol
Bakuchiol is a natural phenol and a meroterpene found in Psoralea corylifolia and in Otholobium pubescens....

 and ethanol extracts of P. corylifolia could protect against bone loss.
Bakuchiol
Bakuchiol
Bakuchiol is a natural phenol and a meroterpene found in Psoralea corylifolia and in Otholobium pubescens....

 isolated from the Chinese medicinal plant, Psoralea corylifolia (Fabaceae), has shown activity against numerous Grampositive and Gram-negative oral pathogens. It was able to inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans
Streptococcus mutans
Streptococcus mutans is a facultatively aerobic, Gram-positive coccus-shaped bacterium commonly found in the human oral cavity and is a significant contributor to tooth decay.The microbe was first described by J Kilian Clarke in 1924.-Introduction:...

 under a range of sucrose
Sucrose
Sucrose is the organic compound commonly known as table sugar and sometimes called saccharose. A white, odorless, crystalline powder with a sweet taste, it is best known for its role in human nutrition. The molecule is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula...

 concentrations, pH
values and in the presence of organic acids in a temperature-dependent manner and also inhibited the growth of cells adhered to a glass surface.
It may be of assistance in treating prostate cancer.

Very high concentrations of the anticancer chemical, genistein
Genistein
Genistein is one of several known isoflavones. Isoflavones, such as genistein and daidzein, are found in a number of plants including lupin, fava beans, soybeans, kudzu, and psoralea being the primary food source, also in the medicinal plant, Flemingia vestita and coffee Besides functioning as...

, have been found in the leaves of Psoralea corylifolia

Psoralea Corylifolia has been shown to inhibit mitochondrial complex I and may therefore increase susceptibility to oxidative stress.
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