Description: |
7-Methoxycoumarin, also known as Herniarin, has potent antioxidant, hepatoprotective, and antitumor effects. 7-Methoxycoumarin has a weak estrogenic activity in vitro and in vivo, it could be beneficial with regard to vagina dryness as it showed a tissue specific effect without exposing the uterus to a potential tumorigenic growth. |
Targets: |
SOD | Estrogen receptor | Progestogen receptor |
In vitro: |
J Photochem Photobiol B. 2016 Sep;162:402-11. | Inactivation of plant-pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum acutatum with natural plant-produced photosensitizers under solar radiation.[Pubmed: 27434699 ] | The increasing tolerance to currently used fungicides and the need for environmentally friendly antimicrobial approaches have stimulated the development of novel strategies to control plant-pathogenic fungi such as antimicrobial phototreatment (APT). METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated the in vitro APT of the plant-pathogenic fungus Colletotrichum acutatum with furocoumarins and coumarins and solar radiation. The compounds used were: furocoumarins 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and 5,8-dimethoxypsoralen (isopimpinellin), coumarins 2H-chromen-2-one (coumarin), 7-hydroxycoumarin, 5,7-dimethoxycoumarin (citropten) and a mixture (3:1) of 7-methoxycoumarin and 5,7-dimethoxycoumarin. APT of conidia with crude extracts from 'Tahiti' acid lime, red and white grapefruit were also performed. Pure compounds were tested at 50μM concentration and mixtures and extracts at 12.5mgL(-1). The C. acutatum conidia suspension with or without the compounds was exposed to solar radiation for 1h. In addition, the effects of APT on the leaves of the plant host Citrus sinensis were determined. APT with 8-MOP was the most effective treatment, killing 100% of the conidia followed by the mixture of two coumarins and isopimpinellin that killed 99% and 64% of the conidia, respectively. APT with the extracts killed from 20% to 70% of the conidia, and the extract from 'Tahiti' lime was the most effective. CONCLUSIONS: No damage to sweet orange leaves was observed after APT with any of the compounds or extracts. |
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In vivo: |
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Aug 2;17(1):383. | Estrogen-like and tissue-selective effects of 7-methoxycoumarin from Ficus umbellata (Moraceae): an in vitro and in vivo study.[Pubmed: 28768532] | Ficus umbellata is a medicinal plant previously shown to endow estrogenic properties. Its major component was isolated and characterized as 7-Methoxycoumarin (MC). Noteworthy, coumarins and the respective active metabolite 7-hydroxycoumarin analogs have shown aromatase inhibitory activity, which is of particular interest in the treatment of estrogen-dependent cancers. The present work aimed at evaluating the estrogenic/antiestrogenic effects of MC in vitro and in vivo. METHODS AND RESULTS: To do so, in vitro assays using E-screen and reporter gene were done. In vivo, a 3-day uterotrophic assay followed by a postmenopausal-like rat model to characterize MC as well as F. umbellata aqueous extract in ovariectomized Wistar rats was performed. The investigations focused on histological (vaginal and uterine epithelial height) and morphological (uterine wet weight, vagina stratification and cornification) endpoints, bone mass, biochemical parameters and lipid profile. MC induced a significant (p < 0.05) MCF-7 cell proliferation at a concentration of 0.1 μM, but did not inhibit the effect induced by estradiol in both E-screen and reporter gene assays. In vivo, MC treatment did not show an uterotrophic effect in both rat models used. However, MC (1 mg/kg) induced a significant increase (p < 0.01) of vaginal epithelial height. No significant change was observed with MC in abdominal fat weight, serum lipid levels and bone weight. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that MC has a weak estrogenic activity in vitro and in vivo that accounts only in part to the estrogenicity of the whole plant extract. MC could be beneficial with regard to vagina dryness as it showed a tissue specific effect without exposing the uterus to a potential tumorigenic growth. |
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