Phytochemistry and Mechanisms of Action of Medicinal Plants in Women’s Health
Corresponding author: [email protected]
Abstract
Medicinal plants used in gynaecology and reproductive health act through defined chemical constituents, and their clinical value can be judged only when the constituent, its molecular target and its fate in the body are known. This chapter classifies the phytochemicals of greatest relevance to women's health and relates each class to its principal mechanisms. Phytoestrogens (isoflavones, lignans, coumestans and prenylflavonoids) bind oestrogen receptors with a preference for the beta subtype and behave as partial agonists or antagonists depending on tissue and endogenous hormone levels. Terpenoids and saponins, including the clerodane diterpenes of Vitex agnus-castus and the triterpene glycosides of Actaea racemosa, act largely through neuroendocrine pathways: dopamine D2 agonism that lowers prolactin, and serotonergic and opioidergic signalling in thermoregulatory and mood circuits. Alkaloids such as berberine activate AMP-activated protein kinase and improve insulin sensitivity, a mechanism of direct interest in polycystic ovary syndrome. Gingerols and curcuminoids inhibit cyclo-oxygenase, lipoxygenase and nuclear factor-kappa B, which explains their use in dysmenorrhoea and inflammatory gynaecological disease. Enzyme-level actions, including aromatase inhibition by flavones and suppression of ovarian androgen synthesis by glycyrrhetinic acid, add a further layer. The pharmacokinetic dimension is treated in equal detail, since glycoside hydrolysis, gut microbial conversion (for example daidzein to equol), conjugation and enterohepatic cycling determine whether a constituent reaches its target at an active concentration. The chapter closes with the multi-target and synergistic behaviour of whole extracts, the network-pharmacology approach used to describe it, and the methodological limits of mechanism claims drawn from in vitro work at supraphysiological concentrations.
Author Affiliations
- 1 Lecturer, Department of Pharmacognosy, Ravindra Vidya Prasarak Mandal Institute of Pharmacy, Dwarka, Nashik, Maharashtra, India.
- 2 Lecturer, Department of Pharmaceutics, Ravindra Vidya Prasarak Mandal Institute of Pharmacy, Dwarka, Nashik, Maharashtra, India.