Summary
An extract of Radix Puerariae (RP), an herb long used in traditional Chinese medicine for alcohol addiction and intoxication, was shown to suppress the free-choice ethanol intake of ethanol-preferring Syrian golden hamsters. Two isoflavones, daidzein (4′,7-dihydroxyisoflavone) and daidzin (7-glucosideof daidzein), isolated from the extract were shown to account for this effect. Daidzin administered intraperitoneally at 150 mg/kg/day suppressed free-choice ethanol intake by ≥ 50%. Such effect has been confirmed in a total of 79 consecutive hamsters studied over a period of more than a year. Daidzein was less potent and a higher dose (230 mg/kg/day) was required to produce similar effect. RP-, daidzin-, and daidzein-treated hamsters appeared to remain healthy and exhibited no significant change in body weight and water or food intake. In vitro, daidzin and daidzein inhibited human mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH-2) and γγ-alcohol dehydrogenase (γγ-ADH), respectively. However, at doses that suppressed ethanol intake, daidzin and daidzein had no effect on overall acetaldehyde and ethanol metabolism in hamsters. These findings clearly distinguish the action(s) of daidzin and daidzein from those of the classic, broad acting inhibitors of ALDH (e.g. disultiram) and class I ADH isozymes (e.g. 4-methylpyrazole), and identify them as a new class of compounds that offer promise as safe and effective therapeutic agents for alcohol abuse.
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© 1994 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel/Switzerland
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Keung, WM., Vallee, B.L. (1994). Therapeutic lessons from traditional Oriental medicine to contemporary Occidental pharmacology. In: Jansson, B., Jörnvall, H., Rydberg, U., Terenius, L., Vallee, B.L. (eds) Toward a Molecular Basis of Alcohol Use and Abuse. Experientia, vol 71. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7330-7_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-7330-7_37
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