PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Hojas y tallos tiernos.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Astringente, vulneraria, detersivas, estomacales, digestivo, antiespasmódica.
 
POSOLOGÍA= Posology: Como colutorio, se prepara un cocimiento de hojas y tallos tiernos de la planta, a razón de 30 gramos por litro de agua. Se hace buches de gárgaras de cuatro en cuatro horas.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Kashmiri medicinal plant (Prunella vulgaris) was analyzed for its chem. compn. and amt. of bioactive constituents.  The results showed that the herb contains on an av. alkaloid (1120 mg %), saponins (350 mg %), phenolics (55.785 mg %) and tannins (52.25 mg %).  The medicinal plant contained carbohydrates (375 mg %), proteins (441.6 mg %) and lipids (2403.8 mg %).  Role of these bioactive principles are discussed according to their folkloric use in Kashmir valley.  Besides the herb is of great importance as far as its other clin. application arc concerned.  This quant. estn. can be used for comparative evaluation of bioactive constituents with other populations of Prunella vulgaris present in different parts of the world and can be used for selection of superior quality of this herb to use in pharmaceutical industries.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Argentina.

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs:

DNA barcoding involves sequencing a std. region of DNA as a tool for species identification.  However, there has been no agreement on which region(s) should be used for barcoding land plants.  To provide a community recommendation on a std. plant barcode, the authors compared the performance of 7 leading candidate plastid DNA regions (atpF-atpH spacer, matK gene, rbcL gene, rpoB gene, rpoC1 gene, psbK-psbI spacer, and trnH-psbA spacer).  Based on assessments of recoverability, sequence quality, and levels of species discrimination, the 2-locus combination of rbcL+matK was recommended as the plant barcode.  This core 2-locus barcode will provide a universal framework for the routine use of DNA sequence data to identify specimens and contribute toward the discovery of overlooked species of land plants.  Sequence data are deposited in GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ with accession nos. GQ247894-GQ248069, GQ248071-GQ248710, GQ248715-GQ249040, GQ273984-GQ273987, GQ274310-GQ274318, and GQ335519-GQ335521.

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) Objective The aim of this study was to observe the effect of the Prunella vulgaris L ext. on the Jurkat human T lymphoma cell line.  Methods Jurkat cells were cultivated with different concns. of the ext. from Prunella vulgaris L. The MTT assay and flow cytometry were employed to det. the cells' proliferation inhibition ratio and the apoptosis rates, resp.  Agarose gel electrophoresis was used to observe cellular DNA fragmentation, and western blotting was used to observe changes in Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression.  Results The Prunella vulgaris L ext. remarkably inhibited the proliferation of Jurkat cells.  This inhibition exhibited dose dependence, with an IC50 of 20.23 ± 0.31 mg/mL.  Agarose gel electrophoresis showed that the apoptosis strap became wider and brighter, and flow cytometry showed that the apoptosis rate increased in a concn.-dependent manner.  Western blotting showed that Bcl-2 protein was down-regulated and Bax protein was up-regulated during apoptosis.  Conclusion The ext. from Prunella vulgaris L induced apoptosis of Jurkat cells by down-regulating Bcl-2 protein and up-regulating Bax protein.  These actions inhibited the growth of Jurkat cells.

2) Prunella vulgaris (P. vulgaris) has been used as a traditional medicine in the clin. treatment of herpetic keratitis and for its antioxidative and antimicrobial activities.  In this study, we examd. the immunostimulatory and antitumor activity of P. vulgaris in murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells.  Thus, we investigated the effects of an aq. ext. of P. vulgaris (PVAE) on macrophage function.  We found that PVAE stimulated macrophage phagocytic activity, nitric oxide (NO) prodn. and cytostatic activity.  In addn., PVAE induced gene expression and prodn. of macrophage-related cytokines such as TNF-a, IL-1b and IL-6.  Transient transfection revealed that NF-kB mediated the PVAE-induced increases in macrophage-related cytokine expression levels.  Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAP Kinase) were also significantly activated by the PVAE-induced NF-kB activation.  Pretreatment with NF-kB inhibitor and MAP Kinase inhibitors inhibited the NO prodn. and the phagocytic activity induced by PVAE.  This demonstrates that PVAE stimulates macrophage activation via NF-kB transactivation and MAP kinase activation.

3) A cyclodextrin-modified capillary zone electrophoresis method was developed for the sepn. and detn. of 3 isomeric compds. (ursolic acid, oleanolic acid and betulinic acid), caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, rosmarinic acid, rutin and quercetin.  Without the addn. of b-cyclodextrin (b-CD) and methanol, the sepn. of these analytes was poorly resolved.  These 8 compds., however, were well sepd. from each other within 20 min with a borax running buffer (40 mM of borax, pH 9.4) contg. 2 mM b-CD and 4% (vol./vol.) methanol at the voltage of 25 kV, temp. of 25° and detection wavelength of 210 nm.  The relative std. deviations (RSDs) of migration time ranged 0.16-0.74% while those of the peak area ratios ranged 2.17-4.61% for 6 detns. of the analytes at concn. of 10 and 25 mg/mL-1.  The correlation coeffs. of the calibration curves of the analytes were all >0.998, and the recoveries were 96.8-103.6%.  The method was successfully applied to det. these bioactive components in the samples of P. vulgaris L. and its beverage drink products.  Only the isomeric compds. and rosmarinic acid were detected in the spikes of P. vulgaris; other components were either too low to be detected or not present while only rosmarinic acid was detected in the beverage products.

Patente extraída del Chemical Abstracts
 
A composition comprising the extract of Prunella vulgaris L. for preventing and treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Ryu, Jong Hoon; Cheong, Jae Hoon; Shin, Chan Young; Park, Se Jin.  (Dongkook Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., S. Korea).    PCT Int. Appl.  (2011),     21pp.  CODEN: PIXXD2  WO  2011078479  A2  20110630  Designated States W: AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KM, KN, KP, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, RU, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, TM.  Designated States RW: AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IS, IT, LU, MC, MT, NL, NO, PT, SE, SM, TR, BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG.  Patent  written in English.    Application: WO  2010-KR7904  20101110.  Priority: KR  2009-129811  20091223.  CAN 155:84125    AN 2011:824062    CAPLUS   (Copyright (C) 2011 ACS on SciFinder (R))  

The invention relates to a compn. comprising the ext. of Prunella vulgaris L for preventing and treating ADHD and the use thereof.  The invention also relates to prepn. of an ext. of Prunella vulgaris.

Origins: Roadsides, lawns, fields, pastures, wastelands, and grasslands.

Uses: The herb is used as an aromatic and carminative. It has been used also as a gargle, and in treating hemorrhage and diarrhea.

1) CONSELL, Danilo M. Enciclopedia de plantas que curan. Buenos Aires: Ediliba, 1987. 2 volúmenes. p. 73.

2) Rasool, Rafia, et al. Phytochemical screening of Prunella vulgaris L.- an important medicinal plant of Kashmir. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2010, vol.23, nº4, p.399-402.
3) HOLLINGSWORTH, Peter M., et al. A DNA barcode for land plants.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2009, vol.106, nº31, p.12794-12797.

4) CHEN, Changying; WU, Gang; ZHANG, Mingzhi. The effects and mechanism of action of Prunella vulgaris l extract on Jurkat human T lymphoma cell proliferation. Chinese-German Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2009, vol.8, nº7, p.426-429.

5)  HAN, Eun Hee, et al. Immunostimulatory activity of aqueous extract isolated from Prunella vulgaris. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 2009, vol.47, nº1, p.62-69.

6) CHEUNG, Hon-Yeung; ZHANG, Qing-Feng. Enhanced analysis of triterpenes, flavonoids and phenolic compounds in Prunella vulgaris L. by capillary zone electrophoresis with the addition of running buffer modifiers. Journal of Chromatography, A. 2008, vol.1213, nº2, p.231-238.

7) A guide to medicinal plants of  Appalachia/ Krochmal, Arnold; Walter, Russel S.; Doughty, Richard M.: USA: U.S.D.A Forest Service:,1959