The Magic Velvet Bean of Mucuna pruriens

Abstract

Mucuna pruriens (Fabaceae) is an established herbal drug used for the management of male infertility, nervous disorders, and also as an aphrodisiac. It has been shown that its seeds are potentially of substantial medicinal importance. The ancient Indian medical system, Ayurveda, traditionally used M. pruriens, even to treat such things as Parkinson's disease. M. pruriens has been shown to have anti-parkinson and neuroprotective effects, which may be related to its anti-oxidant activity. In addition, anti-oxidant activity of M. pruriens has been also demonstrated in vitro by its ability to scavenge DPPH radicals and reactive oxygen species. In this review the medicinal properties of M. pruriens are summarized, taking in consideration the studies that have used the seeds extracts and the leaves extracts.

Keywords: Antioxidant; Diabetes; Mucuna pruriens; Parkinson's disease; Phytochemicals; Skin.

Figure 1

Chemical structures of some proteic and non-proteic compounds contained in Mucuna pruriens a) N-terminal amino acid sequences of proteins at positions (A) 1, 2, and 4 after gel separation, which are identical, and (B) at position 3, which is identical to those in A with regard to the first 10 aa, and (C) positions 5, 6 and 7, which differ from A in only in 3 aa. b) The reaction representing the two steps involved in the formation of dopamine from l-tyrosine and the non-protein amino acid L-dopa (the main phenolic compound contained in MP) c) Chemical structures of d-chiro-inositol and its two galacto-derivatives, O-α-d-galactopyranosil-(1→2)-d-chiro-inositol (FP1) and O-α-dgalactopyranosil-(1→6)-O-α-d-galactopyranosil-(1→2)-d-chiro-inositol (FP2), present in MP seeds.