Lignans bind to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG). The lignan with the highest binding affinity is (+/-)-3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran. In a double Stobbe condensation--without use of protecting groups--a wide variety of lignans with different substitution pattern in the aromatic and aliphatic part of the molecule was synthesized. These lignans were tested in a SHBG-binding assay which allowe...

Phytoestrogens represent a family of plant compounds such as isoflavones, flavones and lignans. A wide range of commonly consumed foods contains appreciable amounts of different phytoestrogens such as isoflavones and lignans. Soy and its products are particularly good sources of isoflavones and lignans. The evidence reviewed here represents the beneficial effects of most potential and promising...

Schisandra chinesis (S. chinesis) is widely used as one of the 50 fundamental herbs in traditional Oriental medicine; the species is a member of the Schisandra genus of shrub, which grows commonly in the native forests of Northern China, Korea, Japan and Russia. The Schisandra are deciduous climbers that thrive in any type of soil, so long as it is moist, shaded, and well-drained (Panossian and...

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived polyphenols with a structure similar to human estrogens. The three main groups of phytoestrogens, isoflavones, ellagitannins, and lignans, are transformed into equol, urolithins, and enterolignans, respectively, by bacteria. These metabolites have more estrogenic/antiestrogenic and antioxidant activities than their precursors, and they are more bioavailable. The...

Lignan is a large class of plant secondary metabolites, which has long attracted pharmacological interest because of its anti-tumor and estrogenic activities. Forsythia plants are known to produce a wide variety of lignans, such as ( )-matairesinol, ( )-secoisolariciresinol, ( )-pinoresinol, and ( )-phillygenin. The majority of such lignans are accumulated in glucoside forms. However, their glu...

Mammalian lignans or enterolignans are metabolites of plant lignans, an important category of phytochemicals. Although they are known to be associated with estrogenic activity, cell signaling pathways leading to specific cell functions, and especially the differences among lignans, have not been explored. We examined the estrogenic activity of enterolignans and their precursor plant lignans and...

Consumption of flaxseed lignans is associated with various health benefits; however, little is known about the bioavailability of purified lignans in flaxseed. Data on their bioavailability and hence pharmacokinetics (PK) are necessary to better understand their role in putative health benefits. In the present study, we conducted a comparative PK analysis of the principal lignan of flaxseed, se...

Cortex Eucommiae (Du-zhong) is the dried bark of the Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. The natural products identified from Du-zhong include lignans, iridoids, flavonoids, polysaccharides, terpenes, and proteins, Liu et al. (2012). Lignans, the main bioactive components, were protective against hypertensive renal injury in spontaneous hypertensive rats in our previous study, Li et al. (2012). Moreover, E...

Cancer is a multifactorial disease that continues to increase. Lignans are known be important anticancer agents. However, due the structural diversity of lignans, it difficult associate activity with particular subclass. Therefore, present study sought evaluate association lignan subclasses antitumor activity, considering genetic profile variants selected targets. To do so, predictive models we...

a procedure was developed for rapid in vitro germination of linum album seeds by scarification and exposing to gibberellic acid (ga3) and kinetin (kn).  concentrations of podophyllotoxin (ptox) and related aryltetralin lignans α-peltatin, β-peltatin, 5’-demethoxy-6-methoxypodophyllotoxin and 6-methoxypodophyllotoxin (mptox) in l. album fresh plant organs were determined by hplc. a degree of var...