Prenylflavones benefit and research

Prenylflavones are found in horny goat weed herb.

Flavonol glycosides from Epimedium sagittatum and their neurite outgrowth activity on PC12h cells.
Planta Med. 2000. The MeOH extract of Epimedium sagittatum was found to show neurite outgrowth activity on cultured PC12h cells. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the MeOH extract yielded six prenylated flavonol glycosides, ikarisoside A, icarisid II, epimedoside A, icariin, epimedin B, and epimedokoreanoside-I as the active ingredients.

New prenylflavones from the leaves of Epimedium saggitatum.
J Nat Prod. 1996.Chen CC, Huang YL, Sun CM. Pharmacological Institute, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Republic of China.
Five new prenylflavones, yinyanghuo A, yinyanghuo B, yinyanghuo C, yinyanghuo D, and yinyanghuo E, along with six known flavonoids, chrysoeriol, quercetin, apigenin, apigenin 7,4'-dimethyl ether, kaempferol, and luteolin, were isolated from the leaves of Epimedium sagittatum. Their structures were determined from spectral analysis. Yinyanghuo A and yinyanghuo B showed significant antiplatelet induced by arachidonic acid.

Prenylflavones from Psoralea corylifolia inhibit nitric oxide synthase expression through the inhibition of I-kappaB-alpha degradation in activated microglial cells.
Biol Pharm Bull. 2005; College of Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, Korea.
The overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) switches the function of NO from a physiological neuromodulator to a neurotoxic effector in central nervous system (CNS) after brain injury. From the methanol extracts of Psoralea corylifolia, we purified two inhibitors of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglia by activity guided purification along with two inactive compounds. The active compounds were identified as a chromenoflavanone [7,8-dihydro-8-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2,2-dimethyl-2H,6H-benzo-(1,2-b:5,4-b')dipyran-6-one] and 4-hydroxylonchocarpin. And the inactive two compounds were identified as bavachinin and bavachalcone by spectral analysis. The compound 2 was isolated first time from this plant. Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited the production of NO in LPS-activated microglia in a dose dependent manner (IC(50)'s were 11.4, 10.2 microM, respectively). They also suppressed the expression of protein and mRNA of iNOS in LPS-activated microglial cells. Furthermore they inhibited the degradation of I-kappaB-alpha in activated microglia. These results imply that compounds 1 and 2 can be lead compounds for the development of neuroprotective drug with the inhibitory activity of NO overproduction by activated microglial cells.