Previously we have shown that peroraly administered silymarin, a mixture of antioxidant flavonolignans from medicinal plant Silybum marianum (L.), prevents both the accumulation of exogenous cholesterol in the liver and the development of diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rat1, 2. The silymarin-induced decrease of plasma cholesterol has been associated with a decrease in apo B containing lip...

In the present paper are discussed the results of the investigations of the phenylpropanoids of the medicinal plants which are of the great interest as the sources of the neurotropic, adaptogenic, immunostimulating, antioxidative, and hepatoprotective preparations. There were shown the necessity of using of the standard samples of triandrin (Rhodiola rosea L. tissue cultures, Salix viminalis L....

Certain of the water-soluble flavonoid molecules can be converted into lipid-compatible molecular complexes, aptly called phytosomes. Phytosomes are better able to transition from a hydrophilic environment into the lipid-friendly environment of the outer cell membrane, and from there into the cell, finally reaching the blood. The fruit of the milk thistle plant (Silybum marianum, Family Asterac...

The liver is one of the major organs of the human body which plays an important role in the detoxification of xenobiotics, among which are mentioned alcohol, stimulants, drugs. The parenchymal cells of the liver called hepatocytes which have high ability to regenerate, are a main component of this organ. There are many factors that damage the liver e.g. drugs, chemicals, viral infections, autoi...

We show that silymarin, a polyphenolic flavonoid isolated from milk thistle (Silybum marianum), inhibits cytokine mixture (CM: TNF-α, IFN-γ, and IL-1β)-induced production of nitric oxide (NO) in the pancreatic beta cell line MIN6N8a. Immunostaining and Western blot analysis showed that silymarin inhibits iNOS gene expression. RT-PCR showed that silymarin inhibits iNOS gene expression in a dose-...

Silymarin is a hepatoprotective mixture of flavonolignans and flavonoids extracted from the seeds of milk thistle (Silybum marianum L. Gaertn). This study investigates the effect of major bioactive constituents from silymarin, silybin A, silybin B, isosilybin A, isosilybin B, silydianin, silychristin, isosilychristin, and taxifolin, on the expression of ABCA1, an important cholesterol efflux tr...