Biol. Pharm. Bull., 28(3),538-540, March 2005

Notes

Evaluation of the Estrogenic Activity of Leguminosae Plants

Hye Hyun YOO, Taehyeong KIM, Soyun AHN, Yoon Jung KIM, Hyun Young KIM, Xiang Lan PIAO, and Jeong Hill PARK^*

College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University; Seoul 151-742, Korea. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: hillpark@snu.ac.kr

The plant extracts of the Leguminosae family were screened for their estrogenic activity with the Ishikawa cell system. Of the tested plants, Desmodium oxyphyllum, Dunbaria villosa, Kummerowia striata, Lespedeza bicolor, Maackia amurensis, Maackia fauriei, Pueraria thunbergiana, and Sophora flavescens were highly estrogenic with EC₅₀ values of less than 10 μg/ml.

Key words Leguminosae; phytoestrogen; Ishikawa cell