3 research outputs found
Pharmacology of rosemary (<i>Rosmarinus officinalis </i>Linn.) and its therapeutic potentials
124-130The use of plants
is as old as the mankind. Natural products are cheap and claimed to be safe. They
are also suitable raw material for production of new synthetic agents. Rosemary
(Rosmarinus officinalis Linn.) is a common household plant grown in many
parts of the world. It is used for flavouring food, a beverage drink, as well as
in cosmetics; in folk. medicine it is used as
an
antispasmodic in renal colic and dysmenorrhoea, in relieving respiratory disorders
and to stimulate growth of hair. Extract of rosemary relaxes smooth muscles of trachea
and intestine, and has choleretic, hepatoprotective and antitumerogenic activity.
The most important constituents of rosemary are caffeic acid and its derivatives
such as rosmarinic acid. These compounds have
antioxidant effect.
The phenolic compound, rosmarinic acid, obtains one of its phenolic rings from phenylalanine
via caffeic acid and the other from tyrosine via dihydroxyphenyl-lactic acid. Relatively
large-scale production of rosmarinic acid can be obtained from the cell culture
of Coleus blumei Benth when supplied exogenously with phenylalanine and
tyrosine. Rosmarinic acid is
well absorbed from gastrointestinal
tract and from the skin. It increases the production of prostaglandin Ez and reduces
the production of leukotriene B4 in human polymorphonuclear
leucocytes, and inhibits the complement system. It is concluded that rosemary
and its constituents especially caffeic acid derivatives such as rosmarinic acid
have a therapeutic potential in treatment or prevention of bronchial asthma,
spasmogenic disorders, peptic ulcer, inflammatory diseases, hepatotoxicity, atherosclerosis,
ischaemic heart disease, cataract, cancer and poor sperm motility.</span