Estrogenic Activity from Licorice Roots

Estrogenic activity of glabridin and glabrene from licorice roots on human osteoblasts and prepubertal rat skeletal tissues.

Article Summary:

A review of the relationship between glabridin and glabrene, derived from licorice roots, and the stimulation of creatine kinase specific activity. The study was conducted on both humans and prepubertal female rats. Pre-menopausal human bone cells responded to glabridin while glabrene was more effective in post-menopausal cells. Glabridin was shown to have an enhanced response when women were pretreated with less-calcemic Vitamin D and non-calcemic JK 1624; yet, the response to glabrene was negatively effected by this pretreatment.
Test results from experimentation on rats showed very similar results to that of humans. Raloxifene, when added as an experimental factor, reduced the creatine stimulation effectiveness of glabridin to zero; while glabrene results were not inhibited by its insertion.

The two licorice root by-products, glabridin and glabrene, prove to be very similar in their relationship to creatine kinase stimulation but differ when it comes to their interactions with other drugs. Based on their reactions to these other drugs, Glabridin has shown to have a greater potential of regulating bone disorders in post-menopausal women.

Authors:

Somjen D, Katzburg S, Vaya J, Kaye AM, Hendel D, Posner GH, Tamir S.

Institution:

Institute of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Hypertension, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 64239, Israel.

Country of Publication:

Israel

Source:

J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2004 Aug;91(4-5):241-6. NIH.

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