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Peganum harmala - A Brief Medicinal Review

Migrated topic.

King Tryptamine

Esteemed member
Introduction:

The beta-carboline constituents of Peganum harmala, Harmine, Harmaline and harmalol are well known to be inhibitors of a variety of endogenous enzymes such as; monoamine oxidase A and acetylcholinestrase. This will be a short review discussing the medical applications of another lesser known enzyme these alkaloids have been found to inhibit, the CYP1A1 protein.


Inhibition of CYP1A1:

The CYP1A1 enzyme is responsible for activating environmental pro-carcinogens such as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons found in automobile exhausts and other self administered compounds, E.g. tobacco smoke (tobacco specific nitrosamines) via metabolism into carcinogenic, DNA reactive species causing unhealthy mutations to occur within these proteins. Now the alkaloids harmaline and harmalol present in P.harmala have been found to inhibit these CYP1A1 enzymes in an analogous manner to monoamine oxidase A, thereby reducing its effectiveness to metabolize pro-carcinogenic compounds into carcinogenic ones, in turn reducing the frequency or likelihood of these species reacting with DNA causing cancerous mutations to occur. A possible medical application to exploit the anti-cancer effect of these compounds would be say... giving them to a person working in pollutive work space such as a BBQ or a chemist working with volatiles, just a suggestion. Anyway thought you guys may benefit from a new way to use harmalas other than potentiating DMT :thumb_up:


Reference - Harmaline and harmalol inhibit the carcinogen-activating enzyme CYP1A1 via transcriptional and posttranslational mechanisms
 
Cool info, many thanks.
I added your link to my harmala love folder ;)

King Tryptamine said:
...Anyway thought you guys may benefit from a new way to use harmalas other than potentiating DMT :thumb_up:...
(Micro)dosing harmalas on it's own is not an unknown practice, it has quite some fans.

To complete your medicinal praise of harmalas, these benefits are also described:

...Abstract
Introduction: Microbial biofilms have attracted interest in recent years because they have become the most important cause of nosocomial infections. This study was aimed to examine the antibacterial activities of Peganum harmala extracts on the development of microbial biofilms and planktonic form of six pathogenic bacteria which include Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae...

...ABSTRACT
Peganum harmala L. (Zygophyllaceae) is one of the most famous medicinal plants used in
traditional medicine of Iran. The aim of this study was to consider antibacterial effects of the
methanolic extract of different parts of P. harmala including root, stem, leaf, flower and seed
against some important human pathogenic bacteria. Antibacterial properties of methanolic
extract of mentioned parts were assessed by disc diffusion method...

...Background: Pneumonia and respiratory tract infections, is associated with high mortality and complications in humans. Current antibiotics are used to treat this infectious disease, but may lead to many problems such as unwanted side effects and resistance to antibiotics. This study investigated the antibacterial activity of the hydro alcoholic extracts of the native medicinal plants Peganum harmala, Mentha pulegium and Alcea rosea, in Baku, as a natural alternative to antibiotics, on antibiotic-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae and Klebsiella pneumoniae, the main bacteria that cause pneumonia...

These molecules seem a godsend.
In attachment to this post, an overview of medicinal use in a very wide context.
 

Attachments

  • RueUsages.pdf
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I've seen that overview! Its a nice little summary is well, thanks for adding on the harmala info bank, especially regarding the lesser known medicinal attributes this plant offers such as the anti-bacterial properties.

It's actually funny you bringing up the anti-microbial properties of the plant since yesterday I began suffering from the flu, so I decided to brew a Syrian Rue concoction in order to see how it may or may not affect the virus. Long story short, woke up the next day with all symptoms resolved!

Than I went on to discover it also inhibits the replication of the influenza virus via RNA transcription in vitro. Obviously this concoction was tested in vivo with the host organism being myself :roll:. I'm very curious if anyone else has tested this hypothesis on themselves, I would really like to know please!

Reference for anti-viral effects - In vitro antiviral effects of Peganum harmala seed extract and its total alkaloids against Influenza virus - PubMed

P.S. The dosage used was 3g (whole seeds) brewed for 10 min with half a lime to aid alkaloid extraction.
 
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