Mucuna pruriens Linn. is an important medicinal plant used for treatment of Parkinson's disease and many others in ancient Indian medical system. L-DOPA extracted from seeds of Mucuna is a constituent of more than 200 indigenous drug formulations and is more effective as drug than the synthetic counterpart. A densitometric high performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed...

Mucuna pruriens is the best known natural source of L-dopa, the gold standard for treatment of Parkinsonism. M. pruriens varieties are protein rich supplements, and are used as food and fodder worldwide. Here, we report L-dopa contents in seeds of fifty six accessions of four M. pruriens varieties, M. pruriens var. pruriens, M. pruriens var. hirsuta, M. pruriens var. utilis and M. pruriens var....

Contents 1. Introduction 1.1 Neurodegenerative disease in perspective 1.2. Searching for symptoms in traditional medicine 1.3. Approaches to scientific investigation 1.4. Plants as a source of useful therapeutic agents in neurodegenerative diseases 2. Plants and their constituents from Ayurvedic medicine 2.1 Withania somnifera 2.2. Bacopa monniera 2.3. Centella asiatica 2.4. Mucuna pruriens 3. ...

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the antitumor effect and antioxidant role of Mucuna pruriens (Family: Fabaceae) against EAC bearing Swiss albino mice. The effect of methanol extract of Mucuna pruriens (MEMP) on tumor growth and hosts survival time was studied by the following parameters: tu-mor volume, packed cell volume, viable and non-viable cell count and life span of the host. M...

Mucuna pruriens seeds have been widely used against snakebite in traditional medicine. The antivenin property of a water extract of seeds was assessed in vivo in mice. The serum of mice treated with extract was tested for its immunological properties. Two proteins of Echis carinatus venom with apparent molecular masses of 25 and 16 kDa were detected by Western blot analysis carried out using Ig...

BACKGROUND Mucuna pruriens, Tribulus terrestris and Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) are widely known as antioxidant effective herbals and have been reported to possess aphrodisiac activities in traditional usages. In this study, we determined the effects of these herbals on sexual functions, serum biochemical parameters, oxidative stress and levels of NF-κB, Nrf2, and HO-1 in reproductive tiss...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether Mucuna pruriens (MP), a levodopa-containing leguminous plant growing in all tropical areas worldwide, may be used as alternative source of levodopa for indigent individuals with Parkinson disease (PD) who cannot afford long-term therapy with marketed levodopa preparations. METHODS We investigated efficacy and safety of single-dose intake of MP powder from roas...

This paper describes the effect of temperature on the level of aflatoxin production in Mucuna pruriens seeds. The highest level of aflatoxin B1 (1.75 micrograms/g) was detected in the samples incubated at 25 degrees C for three weeks. At 20, 30, and 35 degrees C, aflatoxin levels were 0.30 to 0.56, 0.37 to 1.20, and 0.26 to 0.65 micrograms/g, respectively. The lowest concentration of aflatoxin ...