St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum), a perennial flowering plant, has been used medicinally for thousands of years, and has most recently been identified as an effective treatment for mild to moderate depression. Clinical studies on the use of this plant for depression have utilized liquid tinctures and standardized solid extracts (0.3% hypericin--300 mg three times a day). Severe depression...

A basic assumption of the 'rotational behavior model' is that amphetamine (AMPH) produces ipsiversive rotational behavior in rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) system. However, we report here that if the normally 'dominant ' striatum is partially depleted of DA the majority of rats turn contraversive when given AMPH, i.e. in the opposite direction ...

This special issue on the genus Hypericum (family Hypericaceae) consists of 12 articles focusing on recent advancements related to biosynthetic pathways, biotechnology, molecular biology, genomics, pharmacology, and related disciplines. Hypericum is well-known for its medicinal properties. There are about 487 Hypericum spp., which are distributed across every continent except Antarctica. Althou...

Introduction: Hypericum perforatum L was coded in medicinal plants research center of Shaheed Beheshti university and using decoction method was extracted. There are many reports concerning the antidepressant effects of Hypericum perforatum L. (HP), but there are few studies indicating its antinociceptive effects of Hypericum specially Hypericum perforatum L. Materials & Methods: In this expe...

NEDKOV, N., 2007. Research on the Effect of Pre-sowing Treatment on Seed Germination of Hypericum perforatum L. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 13: 31-37 Trials were carried out for improvement of seed germination of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) based on studies of main sowing properties after treatments as follows: soaking, soaking and heating and combined seed stratification. Recommendatio...

To investigate the mechanisms underlying motor hyperactivity, we performed intracisternal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine or endocrine disruptors in rats on postnatal day 5. 6-Hydroxydopamine (100 microg, 488 nmol) caused a significant increase in spontaneous motor activities at 4 weeks of age. Gene-expression profiling using a cDNA membrane array revealed alterations in several classes of gene ...

St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a traditional herbal medicine that is used for the topical treatment of superficial wounds, burns and dermatitis. The characteristic metabolites of St John's wort are the photodynamic active plant pigment hypericin and the phloroglucin-derivative hyperforin. To date, no studies on immunomodulatory properties of topical preparations of St John's wort have...

The active medicinal constituents in Hypericum perforatum, used to treat depression and skin irritation, include flavonoids and xanthones. The carbon skeletons of these compounds are formed by chalcone synthase (CHS) and benzophenone synthase (BPS), respectively. Polyclonal antisera were raised against the polyketide synthases from Hypericum androsaemum and their IgG fractions were isolated. Im...

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Hypericum perforatum L. and Hypericum scabrum L. from plants growing wild in Tajikistan were analyzed by GC-MS. Sixty-six compounds were identified in the essential oils of H. perforatum with germacrene D (13.7%), α-pinene (5.1%), (E)-caryophyllene (4.7%), n-dodecanol (4.5%), caryophyllene oxide (4.2%), bicyclogermacrene ...