Marrubium

 Lamiaceae

©The World Botanical Associates Web Page
Prepared by Richard W. Spjut
May 2005, Jan 2008

Marrubium vulgare
Mojave Desert, Kern Co.,
near Mojave, CA
May 2005

 

El-Bardai S., M. Wibo, M. C. Hamaide, B. Lyoussi, J. Quetin-Leclercq and N. Morel. 2003. Characterisation of marrubenol, a diterpene extracted from Marrubium vulgare, as an L-type calcium channel blocker. Br. J. Pharmacol. 140(7): 1211–1216. “1. The objective of the present study was to investigate the mechanism of the relaxant activity of marrubenol, a diterpenoid extracted from Marrubium vulgare. In rat aorta, marrubenol was a more potent inhibitor of the contraction evoked by 100 mM KCl (IC50: 11.8+/-0.3 microM, maximum relaxation: 93+/-0.6%) than of the contraction evoked by noradrenaline (maximum relaxation: 30+/-1.5%). 2. In fura-2-loaded aorta, marrubenol simultaneously inhibited the Ca2+ signal and the contraction evoked by 100 mM KCl, and decreased the quenching rate of fura-2 fluorescence by Mn2+. 3. Patch-clamp data obtained in aortic smooth muscle cells (A7r5) indicated that marrubenol inhibited Ba2+ inward current in a voltage-dependent manner (KD: 8+/-2 and 40+/-6 microM at holding potentials of -50 and -100 mV, respectively). 4. These results showed that marrubenol inhibits smooth muscle contraction by blocking L-type calcium channels.

Herrera-Arellano A., L. Aguilar-Santamaría, B. García-Hernández, P. Nicasio-Torres and J. Tortoriello. 2004. Clinical trial of Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare leaf extracts on blood glucose and serum lipids in type 2 diabetics. Phytomedicine 11(7-8): 561–566. “Cecropia obtusifolia and Marrubium vulgare have been widely used in Mexican traditional medicine for the control of type 2 diabetes. In order to evaluate the clinical effect produced by the aqueous extract from these species on type 2 non-controlled diabetes mellitus, a total of 43 outpatients were included. Based on the European NIDDM (policy group) criteria, only patients with poor response to the conventional treatment were selected. All patients maintained their medical treatment and also received a prepared infusion of the dry leaves of the plant treatment for 21 days. In a double-blind manner, the patients were randomly grouped as follows: 22 patients were treated with C. obtusifolia and 21 with M. vulgare. The fasting blood glucose values were reduced by 15.25% on patients treated with C. obtusifolia, while cholesterol and triglycerides were decreased by 14.62% and 42.0%, respectively (ANOVA p< 0.02). In the case of patients treated with M. vulgare, the plasma glucose level was reduced by 0.64% and cholesterol and triglycerides by 4.16% and 5.78%, respectively. When the results were compared between groups, significant differences in glucose and cholesterol diminution were found. The obtained results showed that the infusion prepared with the leaves of C. obtusifolia (containing 2.99+/-0.14mg of chlorogenic acid/g of dried plant) produced beneficial effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolisms when it was administered as an adjunct on patients with type 2 diabetes with poor response to conventional medical treatment.

Karioti A., M. Skopeliti, O. Tsitsilonis, J. Heilmann and H. Skaltsa. 2007. Cytotoxicity and immunomodulating characteristics of labdane diterpenes from Marrubium cylleneum and Marrubium velutinum. Phytochemistry. 68(11):1587–1594. “From the aerial parts of Marrubium cylleneum, one labdane nor-diterpene has been isolated together with two labdane diterpenes, hitherto not known as natural products. The structures of the isolated compounds were established by means of NMR [(1)H-(1)H-COSY, (1)H-(13)C-HSQC, HMQC-TOCSY, HMBC, NOESY] and MS spectral analyses. Several diterpenoids from M. cylleneum and M. velutinum were tested for their cytotoxic effect against various cancer cell lines and their immunomodulating potential in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in standard in vitro assays. Our results show a differential cytotoxicity of some compounds as well as their ability to improve selected lymphocyte functions.

Martin-Nizard F., S. Sahpaz, A. Kandoussi, M. Carpentier, J. C. Fruchart, P. Duriez and F. Bailleul. 2004. Natural phenylpropanoids inhibit lipoprotein-induced endothelin-1 secretion by endothelial cells. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 56(12):1607–1611. “There is increasing evidence that oxidized low-density lipoproteins (Ox-LDL) might be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and it has been reported that polyphenols inhibit LDL peroxidation and atherosclerosis. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide isolated from endothelial cells and it induces smooth muscle cell proliferation. ET-1 secretion is increased in atheroma and induces deleterious effects such as vasospasm and atherosclerosis. The goal of this study was to test the effect of four natural phenolic compounds against copper-oxidized LDL (Cu-LDL)-induced ET-1 liberation by bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC). The tested compounds were phenylpropanoid glycosides previously isolated from the aerial parts of Marrubium vulgare L. (acteoside 1, forsythoside B 2, arenarioside 3 and ballotetroside 4). ET-1 secretion increased when cells were incubated with Cu-LDL but the compounds 1-4 inhibited this increase. These results were confirmed by quantitative-polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) analysis. Since ET-1 plays an important role in atherosclerosis development, our work suggests that the tested phenylpropanoids could have a beneficial effect in inhibiting atherosclerosis development.

Meyre-Silva C., R. A. Yunes, V. Schlemper, F. Campos-Buzzi and V. Cechinel-Filho.  2005. Analgesic potential of marrubiin derivatives, a bioactive diterpene present in Marrubium vulgare (Lamiaceae). Farmaco. 60(4): 321–326. “Marrubiin, a furane labdane diterpene, is the main analgesic compound present in Marrubium vulgare, a medicinal plant used in Brazil and other countries to treat several ailments. Considering its important pharmacological action, as well as its high yield, some structural modifications were performed in order to obtain more active compounds. Success was obtained in reducing the lactonic function, in the formation of marrubiinic acid and two esterified derivatives, which exhibited significant analgesic effect against the writhing test in mice. Marrubiinic acid showed better activity and excellent yield, and its analgesic effect was confirmed in other experimental models of pain in mice, suggesting its possible use as a model to obtain new and potent analgesic agents.

Rigano D., C. Formisano, A. Basile, A. Lavitola, F. Senatore, S. Rosselli and M. Bruno. 2007. Antibacterial activity of flavonoids and phenylpropanoids from Marrubium globosum ssp. libanoticum. Phytother. Res. 21(4): 395–397. “Marrubium globosum Montbr. et Auch. ex Benth. ssp. libanoticum Boiss. (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, asthma, coughs and other pulmonary and urinary problems. The goal of our study was to assess the biological activity of M. globosum testing the methanol extract of aerial parts for its antibacterial activity against bacteria known to cause respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin and urinary disorders; the extract showed antibacterial effects against all the strains of bacteria used. A purification of this active extract showed the presence, as main constituents, of verbascoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-beta-D-rutinoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-rutinoside, naringenin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside, kaempferol 3-O-beta-D-rutinoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside, quercetin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside, apigenin 7-O-(3''-p-coumaryl)-glucoside, p-methoxy-cinnamic acid, kaempferol 3-O-beta-D-glucoside and apigenin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside. The pure compounds were tested for their antibacterial activity; quercetin 3-O-beta-D-rutinoside, verbascoside and naringenin 7-O-beta-D-glucoside showed the greatest activity.

Sahpaz S., N. Garbacki, M. Tits and F. Bailleul. 2002. Isolation and pharmacological activity of phenylpropanoid esters from Marrubium vulgare. J. Ethnopharmacol. 79(3): 389–392. “The isolation and identification of major phenylpropanoid esters from Marrubium vulgare: (+) (E)-caffeoyl-L-malic acid 1, acteoside 2, forsythoside B 3, arenarioside 4, ballotetroside 5, as well as their anti-inflammatory activity are reported for the first time. We evaluated the inhibitory effects of these five compounds on cyclooxygenase (Cox) catalysed prostaglandin biosynthesis activity. Only the glycosidic phenylpropanoid esters showed an inhibitory activity towards the Cox-2 enzyme and three of them: acteoside 2, forsythoside B 3, arenarioside 4, exhibited higher inhibitory potencies on Cox-2 than on Cox-1. These results are of interest, as Cox-2 is mainly associated with inflammation and the Cox-1 inhibition with adverse side effects often observed with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The occurrence of these phenylpropanoid esters could also explain some other pharmacological properties of M. vulgare.