Shikonin is an organic substance with the chemical formula C16H16O5. It is insoluble in water, soluble in ethanol, organic solvents and vegetable oils, and easily soluble in alkaline water. It precipitates when exposed to acid and appears in a purple crystalline state.
Shikonin is a purple-red naphthoquinone natural pigment extracted from the root of the natural plant Zongfu. The main component is shikonin and its derivatives, including shikonin,
acetylshikonin, and B,p’-dimethyl p,p’-dimethylacryl Shikonin, p-hydaro-xyisovaleryl shikonin, isovaleryl shikonin, deoxyshikonin deoxy shikonim) etc.
As a food colorant, my country stipulates that shikonin can be used in fruit juice (flavored) beverages, fruit wine, ice cream and popsicles, with a maximum usage of 0.1g/kg.
As an edible purple pigment, it can be used to color canned spicy meat and poultry, the dosage is 0.35~0.5Chemicalbook6g/kg.
Benefits of shikonin (pharmacological effects)
In addition to its use as a colorant, comfrey also has very magical pharmacological effects.
(1) Hypoglycemic effect.
Lithospermum leaf extract and lithosperm polysaccharides (A, B, C) all have obvious hypoglycemic effects.
(2) Antibacterial effect.
Comfrey has an inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus. By studying the anti-parainfluenza virus effect of levo-shikonin, the results show that it has low toxicity within the concentration range used in the experiment, has certain in vitro anti-influenza virus activity and can directly kill parainfluenza viruses.
(3) Effect on blood coagulation.
Intraperitoneal injection of shikonin components (shikonin, acetylshikonin) does not affect blood coagulation time, but can prevent the anticoagulant effect of heparin.
(4) Anti-tumor effect.
Lithospermum extract has a certain inhibitory effect on the late stage of DNA synthesis (G2 phase) of HeLa cells.
(5) Anti-cancer effect.
Shikonin inhibits proliferation, promotes apoptosis and induces cell cycle arrest in human choriocarcinoma drug-resistant cell lines (JAR/MTX) cultured in vitro. Experiments show that Chemicalbook shows that the concentration of shikonin increases with the increase in dose and action time. With prolonged treatment, the inhibition rate of the growth of drug-resistant choriocarcinoma cells also increased significantly.
(6) Effect on hormone secretion.
Effects of shikonin on hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis function in adolescent female rats Experiments show that shikonin has an inhibitory effect on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis function in rats.
(7) Antioxidant effect.
Lithospermum pigments have strong scavenging capabilities for both DPPH and O2-, and have a significant inhibitory effect on the β-carotene/linoleic acid autoxidation system. It is believed that the pharmacological effects of lithospermum may be related to the strong naphthoquinone pigments. related to antioxidant capacity.
Summarize
Overall, the active substance-shikonin is found in a plant called Lithospermum erythrorhizon or red-root sparrow. According to the chemical structure, shikonin belongs to the naphthoquinone compound. Research conducted over the past few years has provided a scientific basis for the use of shikonin, which has long been used in folk medicine to treat various infectious and non-communicable diseases.
In particular, shikonin has been shown to have many diverse properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and wound healing effects. The fact that shikonin exhibits so many active properties has dramatically increased interest in this molecule, especially in the last few years. The wide range of pharmacological effects of shikonin, as well as its pharmacokinetic properties and toxicity, make it a very interesting target molecule.
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Here is the supplier of shikonin, everyone is welcome to come and buy it.
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