BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to investigate 1) whether equol has the direct modulation on vascular tone of endothelium-denuded human uterine artery, and 2) if present, whether this equol-induced modulation of vascular tone is mediated by intracellular calcium modulation through Ca(2+) & K(+) channels on vascular smooth muscle cell membrane. METHODS The uterine arteries were obtaine...

HIV protease inhibitor (PI) ritonavir (RTV) may cause vascular injury through oxidative stress. Our purpose in this study was to determine whether equol, a soy isoflavone, could prevent RTV-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries and in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC). Fresh porcine pulmonary artery rings were treated with 15 micromol/L of RTV and/or equol...

7-Hydroxy-3-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-chroman (S-equol) is a specific end-metabolite formed in the biotransformation of the dietary soy isoflavones daidzin and daidzein by intestinal bacteria. The frequency of equol production varies among individuals and populations, and it is suggested that the efficacy of soy foods differs depending on the ability of an individual to produce equol. To develop a sta...

OBJECTIVE S-equol is produced from the biotransformation of the soy isoflavone daidzein. Clinical trials have shown that being an equol producer reduces menopausal symptoms. As part of a drug development program, S-equol was synthesized in pure form. In this report, we describe its safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics. METHODS Two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical tr...

The intake of isoflavones and the resulting equol contents of both plasma and milk of the same red clover-fed cows are reported for the first time in cyclic change-over design study. Cows were fed four different red clover silages and two timothy-meadow fescue silages as controls. The red clover silages contained daidzein, formononetin, biochanin A and genistein, whereas the timothy-meadow fesc...

HIV protease inhibitor (PI) ritonavir (RTV) may cause vascular injury through oxidative stress. Our purpose in this study was to determine whether equol, a soy isoflavone, could prevent RTV-induced endothelial dysfunction in porcine pulmonary arteries and in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC). Fresh porcine pulmonary artery rings were treated with 15 mmol/L of RTV and/or equol in ...

Increased urinary excretion of equol, a metabolite of the isoflavone daidzein, has been associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. This risk reduction has generally been presumed to be a consequence of increased isoflavone consumption. However, only 30-40% of the population excretes more than trace amounts of equol, regardless of isoflavone intake. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the ob...

S-(-)equol, a natural product of the isoflavone daidzein, has been reported to offer cytoprotective effects with respect to the cardiovascular system, but how this occurs is unclear. Interestingly, S-(-)equol is produced by the human gut, suggesting a role in physiological processes. We report that treatment of human umbilical vein endothelial cells and EA.hy926 cells with S-(-)equol induces AR...

Equol, a metabolite of soybean isoflavone daidzein, has been proven to have various bioactivities related to human health, but little is known on its antifungal activity to plant fungal pathogens. Magnaporthe oryzae is a phytopathogenic fungus that causes rice blast, a devastating disease on rice. Here, we demonstrated that equol influences the development and pathogenicity of M. oryzae. Equol ...

This work introduces a novel real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) protocol for detecting and quantifying equol-producing bacteria. To this end, two sets of primers targeting the dihydrodaidzein reductase (ddr) and tetrahydrodaidzein reductase (tdr) genes, which are involved in the synthesis of equol, were designed. The primers showed high specificity and sensitivity when used to examine DNA from c...