Scutellaria baicalensis

Scutellaria is one of the most widely used herbs not only in Japanese Kampo medicine but is widely used in Eastern medicine in general both traditional and modern. According to what the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China tells us, it removes humid heat, extinguishes fire, fights toxicity, stops bleeding finding implication in nausea and vomiting, humid heat and fever diseases also typical of summer heat and dysentery. The dry extract of the roots - Radix Scutellariae (Skullcap Root) has a particularly high flavonoid content (over 25%), which gives it a yellow color and gives rise to its traditional name of golden root. Therapeutic activities are known to be due particularly to the root flavonoids the most important of which are baicalein, baicalin, wogonin, and wogonoside.

Several potentials of the plant are described along with the activities of the extracts and flavones of Scutellaria baicalensis roots such as anti-bacterial, anti-viral[1-2], anti-inflammatory[3] activities along with immunity regulation. In addition, possible applications of its therapeutic activities in neurodegenerative diseases are the subject of the most recent studies[4,5]. The antibacterial activity of its flavonoids is particularly important in cases of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, an increasingly serious problem globally. For example, Baicalin has shown synergy with beta-lactam antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus resistance. Japanese and Chinese researchers [6, 7] have also noted the remarkable synergies between baicalein and tetracyclines and baicalein and β-lactams against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

De Carvalho, R.S.M.; Duarte, F.S.; De Lima, T.C.M. Involvement of GABAergic non-benzodiazepine sites in the anxiolytic-like and sedative effects of the flavonoid baicalein in mice. Behav. Brain. Res., 2011, 221, 75-82. CrossRef DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.bbr.2011.02.038

Li BQ, Fu T, Dongyan Y, Mikovits JA, Ruscetti FW, Wang JM: Flavonoid baicalin inhibits HIV-1 infection at the level of viral entry. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2000, 276, 534-538.

Cushnie Tim TP, Lamb AJ: Antimicrobial activity of flavonoids rev Int J Antimicrob Agents 2005, 26, 343-356

Mabalirajan U, Ahmad T, Rehman R, Leishangthem GD, Dinda AK, et al. (2013) Baicalein Reduces Airway Injury in Allergen and IL-13 Induced Airway Inflammation. PLoS ONE 8(4): e62916. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062916

Tang NY, Yang JS, Chang YH, Lu HF, Hsia TC, Lin WC, Chung JG: Effect of wogonin on the levels of cytokines and functions of leukocytes associated with NF-kappa B expression in Sprague-Dawley rats. In Vivo 2006, 20, 527-532

Li FQ, Wang T, Pei Z, Liu B, Hong JS: Inhibition of microglial activation by the herbal flavonoid baicalein attenuates inflammation-mediated degeneration of dopaminergic neurons. J Neural Transm 2005, 112, 331-347.

Piao HZ, Jin SA, Chun HS, Lee JC, Kim WK: Neuroprotective effect of wogonin: potential roles of inflam- matory cytokines. Arch Pharm Res 2004, 27, 930-936

Fujita M, Shiota S, Kuroda T, Hatano T, Yoshida T, Mizushima T, Tsuchiya T: Remarkable synergies between baicalein and tetracycline, and baicalein and β-lactams against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Microbiol Immunol 2005, 49, 391-396

Yang ZC, Wang BC, Yang XS, Wang Q, Ran L: The synergistic activity of antibiotics combinet with eight tra- ditional Chinese medicines against two different strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 2005, 41, 79