Korean J Psychopharmacol.  1999 Apr;10(1):50-56.

Alpha-2 Adrenoceptor Binding Profile of Natural Products Used to Treat Psychotic illnesses

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea. jwchung@med.chungbuk.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biotechnology, Daejun, Korea.
  • 3Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea.
  • 4Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea.
  • 5Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

Natural products have long been major sources of pharmaceutical products in medicine. We have undertaken a series of studies designed to characterize the pharmacologic profiles of natural products used to treat psychotic illnesses in Korean traditional medicine. In our previous screening assays, we found that three of plant extracts (Coptidis j, Citrus u, and Phellodendron a) contain active components which show relatively potent binding to alpha-2 adrenoceptors. The present study is to explore pharmacologic activities of extracts as agonism or antagonism by G-protein modulations in radioligand receptor binding study. We have found that two extracts(Coptidis j and Phellodendron a) contain active ingredients which have antagonistic properties to alpha-2 adrenoceptors, whereas one plant extract (Citrus u) has agonistic properties. The demonstration of three plant extracts used to treat psychotic illnesses in Korea may help in the elucidation or their pharmacologic characteristics and provide insights for the development of new psychotropic drugs.

Keyword

Natural products; Alpha-2 adrenoceptors; Traditional medicine; Psychotic illnesses

MeSH Terms

Biological Products*
Citrus
Felodipine
GTP-Binding Proteins
Korea
Mass Screening
Medicine, Korean Traditional
Medicine, Traditional
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Phellodendron
Plant Extracts
Plants
Psychotropic Drugs
Receptors, Adrenergic
Biological Products
Felodipine
GTP-Binding Proteins
Pharmaceutical Preparations
Plant Extracts
Psychotropic Drugs
Receptors, Adrenergic
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