St John's Wort (<i>Hypericum Perforatum</i>L.)

Dostálek, Miroslav; Stark, Anna‐Katarina

doi:10.1002/9783527630905.ch21

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The phloroglucinol hyperforin and naphthodianthrone hypericin (Figure 2 ) are reported to be responsible for its antibacterial activity (Saddiqe et al, 2010 ), effective as antibacterial compounds against various Gram-positive bacteria (Schempp et al, 1999 ), including Bacillus subtilis, E. faecalis, Staphylococcus epidermidis , and Micrococcus luteus (Marcetic et al, 2016 ), while ineffective against Gram-negative bacteria (Gibbons et al, 2002 ). Many compounds other than the naphthodianthrone and phloroglucinol derivatives have been identified in H. perforatum flowers; including the flavonol hyperoside, biflavonols such as amentoflavone and biapigenin, low levels of xanthone derivatives, common phenolic acids such as caddeic acid, chlorogenic acid, and ferulic acid, tannins and catechin derivatives are also present at significant concentrations (Dostalek and Stark, 2012 ; Matei et al, 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Chemical and Antibacterial Evaluation of St. John's Wort Oil Macerates Used in Kosovar Traditional Medicine

et al. 2017

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Hypericum perforatum L. (Hypericaceae), or St. John's Wort, is a well-known medicinal herb often associated with the treatment of anxiety and depression. Additionally, an oil macerate (Oleum Hyperici) of its flowering aerial parts is widely used in traditional medicine across the Balkans as a topical wound and ulcer salve. Other studies have shown that Oleum Hyperici reduces both wound size and healing time. Of its active constituents, the naphthodianthrone hypericin and phloroglucinol hyperforin are effective antibacterial compounds against various Gram-positive bacteria. However, hyperforin is unstable with light and heat, and thus should not be present in the light-aged oil macerate. Additionally, hypericin can cause phototoxic skin reactions if ingested or absorbed into the skin. Therefore, the established chemistry presents a paradox for this H. perforatum oil macerate: the hyperforin responsible for the antibacterial bioactivity should degrade in the sunlight as the traditional oil is prepared; alternately, if hypericin is present in established bioactive levels, then the oil macerate should cause photosensitivity, yet none is reported. In this research, various extracts of H. perforatum were compared to traditional oil macerates with regards to chemical composition and antibacterial activity (inhibition of growth, biofilm formation, and quorum sensing) vs. several strains of Staphylococcus aureus in order to better understand this traditional medicine. It was found that four Kosovar-crafted oil macerates were effective at inhibiting biofilm formation (MBIC50 active range of 0.004–0.016% v/v), exhibited moderate inhibition of quorum sensing (QSIC50 active range of 0.064–0.512% v/v), and contained detectable amounts of hyperforin, but not hypericin. Overall, levels of hypericin were much higher in the organic extracts, and these also exhibited more potent growth inhibitory activity. In conclusion, these data confirm that oil macerates employed in traditional treatments of skin infection lack the compound credited with phototoxic reactions in H. perforatum use and exhibit anti-biofilm and modest quorum quenching effects, rather than growth inhibitory properties against S. aureus.

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