News & Events

When

Date - March 18, 2015
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What

MS Thesis – 602
Title: “Medicinal Kudzu: An Investigation of Possible Drug-Herb Interactions”
Advisor Dr. Raner

Abstract:

The significant impact that this project is desired to have is to provide fundamental knowledge regarding the use of kudzu (PuerariaLobata) products for medicinal purposes as it relates to potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, along with possible drug-herb interactions. This is anticipated to be achieved by studying how plant extracts may alter the activity of several cytochrome P450 enzymes involved in drug metabolism and/or carcinogen activation. Four different human cytochrome P450 isoforms were selected for this study based on either their known ability to activate procarcinogens, or their prominence in the metabolism of pharmaceutical agents. The isoforms include P450 2E1, 2A6, 2C9, and 1A2. Several different kudzu root extracts were prepared for analysis using either ethanol or chloroform as an extracting solvent, and each was tested for inhibition of the enzymes. An additional set of experiments was carried out using the most abundant flavonoid found in kudzu root, puerarin, in an attempt to identify a specific inhibitory component. The results of this study suggest that kudzu extract has only a slight potential for interaction with P4502C9, and therefore warfarin-like drugs that it metabolizes, since in the in vitro studies, only weak inhibition of this isoform was observed. In addition, modest inhibition of P4501A2 was also observed, but the interaction may be of little physiological relevance, given the relatively high IC50 values obtained. Finally, none of the enzymes were significantly affected by the major kudzu component puerarin.