Resumen de El hipérico: una fuente de compuestos bioactivos con un amplio espectro de acción
Beatriz Martínez Poveda, María Isabel Amores Sánchez, Ana Rodríguez Quesada, Miguel Ángel Medina Torres
St. John�s wort is a herbaceous plant, which extracts have been traditionally used for the treatment of a high number of pathological conditions. Recently, it has been shown that St. John�s wort extracts are effective for the treatment of mild-tomoderate depression. St. John�s wort is a source of a great diversity of bioactive compounds, hyperforin being the main responsible for the described antidepressant effects. Another characteristic compound is hypericin, the most potent natural photoactivator described so far. The renewed interest for St. John�s wort as a source of compounds with potential pharmacological applications has allowed to characterize new and promising effects of hyperforin and hypericin, mainly as antitumoral and antiangiogenic compounds. This work reviews St. John�s wort ethnobotanics, along with its traditional and current clinical uses, as well as the current state-of-the-art of the biological effects of both hypericin and hyperforin.
