Review of the effect of S. virgaurea, T.

terrestris and other herbal medicines on urinary

systems: 10.21608/BFSA.2022.239444
“MICROSCOPIC, MICROBIAL AND MOISTURE CONTENT EVALUATION OF THE HERBAL
PRODUCTS AFFECTING THE URINARY SYSTEM MARKETED IN SYRIA”
By Zahraa Ali, Emad Alhaddad and Ramez Roustom
Abstract
The use of herbal products has increased in recent times. However, there are insufficient
studies on their quality. Finished herbal products and crude plants affecting the urinary
system in Syria were evaluated in this study. Most of the loss on drying values were above
the constitutional limits. 37% of the product samples exceeded the safety limits (CFU/g ≤
103) of bacterial growth, and 70.3% of the samples exceeded the safety limit for fungal
growth (CFU/g ≤ 102). All samples were free of bacterial pathogens; however, the
dominant detected fungal species were Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus. The Microscopic
evaluation demonstrated the presence of the labeled plants on the product. Nevertheless,
substantial quantities of starch grains were detected in samples B2 and B3 of product B,
and Ammi visnaga L. powder was missing from one of the samples. It is critical to monitor
the quality of herbal products before and after marketing.

Prostatic tumor suppression by S. virgaurea extract:

https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327914NC431_9
“Antineoplastic Activity of Solidago virgaurea on Prostatic Tumor Cells in an SCID Mouse
Model”
By Steven C. Gross, Goodarz Goodarzi, Misako Watabe, Sucharita Bandyopadhyay, Sudha K.
Pai & Kounosuke Watabe
Abstract
Solidago virgaurea (goldenrod) has traditionally been used as an anti-inflammatory herbal
medicine for the treatment of various symptoms, including prostatic diseases. The plant
has also been reported to have antibacterial, spasmolytic, and carminative properties.
During the course of our screening for antineoplastic activities in various herbal plants, we
found that the extract of S. virgaurea exhibits strong cytotoxic activities on various tumor
cell lines. The active component mostly resides in the leaves of the plant and is soluble in
water. When the extract was fractionated by a Sephadex G-100 column, the active fraction
corresponded to a molecular weight of ~40,000. This cytotoxic activity is effective on
various tumor cell lines, including human prostate (PC3), breast (MDA435), melanoma
(C8161), and small cell lung carcinoma (H520). To examine the effect of the cytotoxic
activity on tumor cells in vivo, we used the rat prostate cell line (AT6.1) and an SCID mouse
model. AT6.1 cells were injected into the flank of SCID mice, and then the G-100 fraction of
S. virgaurea was administered intraperitoneally or subcutaneously every 3 days. The size of
the tumor was measured for up to 25 days. The growth of the tumor was significantly
suppressed by the G-100 fraction at 5 mg/kg without any apparent side effects. Therefore,
S. virgaurea is considered to be promising as an antineoplastic medicine with minimal
toxicities.
T. terrestris is cytotoxic, anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic to prostate cancers:
https://doi.org/10.5812/jjnpp.33561
Abstract
Background: The medicinal herb Tribulus terrestris L. (Zygophyllaceae) has been used for a
long time to treat various kinds of diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma.
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the anticancer activity of
hydroalcoholic extract of T. terrestris fruit on prostate and colon cancerous cell lines.
Materials and Methods: The activity of the extract was studied at seven different
concentrations on three cell lines, human colon adenocarcinoma (HT29), prostate
carcinoma (LNCap-FGC-10) and fibroblast-like cells (HSkMC). MTT, bromo-2’-
deoxyuridine(BrdU) and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end
labeling (TUNEL) assays were used for measuring cytotoxicity, cell proliferation and
apoptotic cell death, respectively.
Results: The IC50 index of the extract of T. terrestris was obtained as 0.3 µg/mL, 7.1 µg/mL
and 8.7 µg/mL for prostate, colon and fibroblast-like cell lines, respectively. Tribulus
terrestris L. was significantly more toxic on prostate cancer cell line than on colon cancer
cell and fibroblast-like cells (P value < 1%). Quantitating BrdU incorporation at the highest
concentration was determined as 0.097 and 0.018. Furthermore, the extract induced 74%
and 46% apoptosis in prostate and colon cancer cells, respectively.
Conclusions: These data indicate that T. terrestris extract has cytotoxic, anti-proliferative
and pro-apoptotic activities. It was less toxic against normal human fibroblast-like cells in
comparison to cancer cell lines. Further in vivo research would help explore and interpret
the potential properties of T. terrestris extract and its components as an anticancer
supplement.