Estrogenic activity of the methanolic extract of Ebenus cretica L

Plant derived compounds when friendly to the human organism tend to become very important ingredient of our nutrition. Members of the Leguminosae family are known to exhibit a mild estrogenicity due to their rich phenolic profile. In the present study, methanolic extracts of Ebenus cretica L. (ECME), Ebenus sibthorpii DC., Medicago marina L. (MMME) and Medicago falcata L. have been investigated for their estrogenic activity on ERb. All extracts were subjected to ERβ-binding screening using stably transfected HeLa cells. Luciferase assay was used as a tool to monitor the ERβ-binding. At the concentration of 400µg/ml ECME and MMME exhibit 2.7-fold and 3.2-fold respectively stronger binding with the ERβ compared to its natural agonist, estradiol. Followingly, in order to isolate bioactive compounds from E. cretica, ECME was submitted to fast centrifugal partition chromatography and sephadex analysis and was proved rich in flavonoids such as rutin and isoflavones such as 4', 8-dimethylether-7-O-β-D-glucopyranosylisoflavone. An aurone, maesopsin glucoside, was also isolated. Additionally, an in vivo experiment was performed in order to evaluate ECME's osteoprotective role. Female Wistar rats were treated with the ECME dissolved in drinking water. Rats were submitted to ovariectomy prior to the treatment.

Natural products from plants traditionally provide the pharmaceutical and food industry with one of the most important sources of „lead“ compounds. Findings of our study offer valuable information on the beneficial effects of E.cretica, which could be used as the basis of food supplement, functional food or even drug.

Keywords: Ebenus, Medicago, estrogenic activity

Acknowledgement: The present study has been funded by the project IRAKLEITOS II