imark-
There are about 350 members of the skullcap family. The two that I am somewhat familiar with are American Skullcap (or Scullcap) Scutellaria laterfolia and Chinese Skullcap or Scutellaria baicalensis. I am experimenting with both at a slow pace while I make up my mind about quercetin. S. laterfolia is a relatively mild botanical that was used as a nerve tonic. It seems to have an anti-anxiety effect and I think it has great potential. (I think that it helped me immensely in dealing with the tornadoes that terrorized my neighborhood last night.)
S. baicalensis is another animal entirely. Consider-
1. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jun 25;279(26):26846-57. Epub 2004 Apr 19.
The flavonoid baicalein inhibits fibrillation of alpha-synuclein and
disaggregates existing fibrils.
Zhu M, Rajamani S, Kaylor J, Han S, Zhou F, Fink AL.
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz,
California 95064, USA.
The aggregation of alpha-synuclein has been implicated as a critical step in the
development of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is a progressive
neurodegenerative disorder caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons from the
substantia nigra; currently, no cure exists. Baicalein is a flavonoid with
antioxidant properties; upon oxidation, it forms several products including
quinones. We show here that low micromolar concentrations of baicalein, and
especially its oxidized forms, inhibit the formation of alpha-synuclein fibrils.
In addition, existing fibrils of alpha-synuclein are disaggregated by baicalein.
The product of the inhibition reaction is predominantly a soluble oligomer of
alpha-synuclein, in which the protein molecules have been covalently modified by
baicalein quinone to form a Schiff base with a lysine side chain in
alpha-synuclein. The binding of baicalein was abolished by conversion of the Tyr
residues into Phe, demonstrating that Tyr is involved in the interaction of
alpha-synuclein with baicalein. In disaggregation baicalein causes fragmentation
throughout the length of the fibril. These observations suggest that baicalein
and similar compounds may have potential as therapeutic leads in combating
Parkinson's disease and that diets rich in flavonoids may be effective in
preventing the disorder.
PMID: 15096521 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by imark3000
In my search for anticholinergic herbs to treat tremor, I found scullcap.
Rick: Scullcap is on your list of supplements .. can you pls tell us of your experience and why do you use it?
Imad
http://health.howstuffworks.com/well...l-remedies.htm
"Skullcap has been used for abnormally tense or twitching muscles, as occurs with rabies, Parkinson's disease, St. Vitus dance (acute chorea, a nervous system disease characterized by involuntary movements of the limbs), and epilepsy.
Skullcap has also been found to have an anti-inflammatory action. Guinea pig studies have shown that skullcap also inhibits release of acetylcholine and histamine, two substances released by cells that cause inflammation." |