Patent Application: US-81358905-A

Abstract:
the use of a lignan , which is a plant lignan , a metabolite thereof or a combination of both , for the manufacture of a composition for preventing or alleviating of symptoms relating to estrogen deficiency in an individual . also disclosed is the use of a plant lignan capable of being a precursor for enterolactone or another metabolite of the plant lignan , for the manufacture of a composition useful for increasing the level of enterolactone or another metabolite of a plant lignan in an individual &# 39 ; s serum , where the individual suffers from or is at risk of estrogen deficiency .

Description:
the menopausal decrease of ovarian function and estrogen production is often compensated by hormonal replacement with estrogen and progestin . however , because of growing awareness of potential side effects of the hrt , the women at menopause refuse to take this medication . this often leads to more severe vasomotor ( climacteric symptoms ) and risk of bone fractures due to accelerated loss of bone mineral content after the menopause . since several plant derived compounds called phytoestrogens can mimic the action of estrogen in at least pharmacological test systems , there is a growing interest and utilization of these products in eg . menopausal and postmenopausal women . the symptoms and diseases which can be prevented by the method according to this invention are , for example , menopausal vasomotor symptoms , mood swings , insomnia and dryness of the mucosa of lower urinary tract . furthermore , long - term treatment with lignans may also inhibit the development of osteoporosis by delaying the loss of bone minerals because of loss of estrogen function . as a first alternative , a decreased level of mammalian lignans , especially enterolactone , in blood appears as a prerequisite for a risk to develop more severe symptoms and conditions during the menopause . therefore , promoting the diet of meno - or postmenopausal women with a plant lignan and thereby elevating blood enterolactone concentration may be effective in alleviating such symptoms . by elevating the blood enterolactone concentration to suitable level ( e . g . 30 - 200 nmol / l ), can have a pronounced alleviating effect on the menopausal symptoms / conditions . as a second alternative , lignans have several putative beneficial properties as nutritional supplements ( e . g . they are antioxidants ), thus meno / postmenopausal women may also benefit direct effects associated with plant lignans . it may also be true , that addition of a plant lignan ( eg . 7 - hydroxymatairesinol ) in daily diet may elicit beneficial health effects without conversion to mammalian lignans such as enterolactone . this assumption should be taken into account since there is no final proof that plant lignans have to be converted into mammalian lignan ( enterolactone ) before their curative effects towards menopausal / postmenpausal symptoms . further , estrogen is considered as a balancing / modulatory mediator for the immune system and loss of estrogen production during menopause is also associated with increased risk of developing certain autoimmune and other immunological disease ( cardiovascular diseases , systemic lupus erythematosus , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease ). thus , by their strong anti - oxidant and anti - inflammatory actions , women at or after menopause can have advantage from this property of lignans . as a third alternative , the mammalian lignan , e . g . enterolactone or enterodiol , can be administered as such to the individual . as fourth alternative , plant and / or mammalian lignan can be combined with compounds from other classes of phytoestrogens such as isoflavones ( eg . genistein from soy ), coumestans , red clover , which are also known for their putative beneficial effects in alleviating menopausal symptoms . it may be anticipated that the therapeutic effects of such combinations to be greater than from individual components administered alone . preferred plant lignans are , for example , 7 - hydroxymatairesinol , allohydroxymatairesinol , matairesinol , lariciresinol , secoisolariciresinol , isolariciresinol , oxomatairesinol , conidendrin , conidendric acid , pinoresinol , pinoresinol glucoside , liovil , picearesinol , nortrachelogenin , arctigenin , and their geometric isomers and stereoisomers , salts and adducts , and mixtures . particularly preferred are the plant lignans hydroxymatairesinol , matairesinol , lariciresinol , secoisolariciresinol , pinoresinol and pinoresinol glucoside , and their geometric isomers and stereoisomers , salts and adducts , and mixtures . these lignans have been shown a good ability to be converted into enterolactone . the lignan to be administered shall in this text be understood to cover any geometric isomer or stereoisomer or any mixture of isomers , such as racemates , of these compounds . salts , adducts and complexes of the compounds shall also be understood to be covered by the term . the lignans to be used in this invention can be supplied in the form of a pharmaceutical preparation , dietary supplement , clinical nutrition formula or as a functional food . according to a particularly preferred embodiment , the lignan is administered as a dietary supplement for clinical nutritional purposes to the coeliac patients . the pharmaceutical preparation according to this invention is preferably an oral formulation . the required amount of the active compound or mixture of compounds will vary with the compound and the particular condition to be prevented . a typical dose ranges from about 10 to about 2000 mg per day and adult person , preferably 100 to 600 mg per day and adult person . typical dosage forms include , but are not limited to , oral dosage forms such as powders , granules , capsules , tablets , caplets , lozenges , liquids , elixirs , emulsions and suspensions . all such dosage forms may include conventional carriers , diluents , excipients , binders and additives known to those skilled in the medicinal and pharmaceutical arts . the pharmaceutical or other formula carriers typically employed may be solid or liquid . thus , for example , solid carriers include polysaccarides such as lactose , sucrose , gelatin , agar , while liquid carriers include aqueous solutions of salts , polysaccarides , complexing agents , surfactants , syrups , vegetable oils such as peanut oil or olive oil , and certain alcohols . however , any acceptable solid or liquid carrier can be used in the pharmaceutical preparation or other dietary or nutrition formula to be administered according to this invention . a typical food product , suitable for use in the methods according to this invention , is especially a functional food , a nutritional supplement , a nutrient , a pharmafood , a nutraceutical , a health food , a designer food or any food product . a suitable concentration of the active compound the food product is , for example , 5 to 1000 mg of active compound per 100 g of food product , preferably about 10 to 100 mg of active compound per 100 g of food product . the efficiency of enterolactone as phytoestrogen was tested in the estrogen receptor binding assay with recombinant estrogen receptor alpha . the results are shown in fig1 . briefly , the test is performed with a commercially available estrogen receptor alpha binding kit ( invitrogen / pan vera corp ., estrogen receptor competitor assay green # p2614 , p2698 ). the test compounds and control compound dissolved in dmso at 10 − 2 m stock solution . the test compounds and reagents are added to a 96 well microtiterplate plate for preparing of serial dilutions and testing the binding activity . the results are obtained by measuring changes in fluorescence polarization induced by test compounds , reflecting compounds ability to bind estrogen receptor alpha . the compounds are tested at 1 , 10 , 100 , 1000 and 10 000 nm concentration and results are obtained with an tecan ultra evolution microplate reader ( switzerland ). an estrogen receptor alpha displacement curve is obtained ( prism software , graphpad inc . ), and an ic50 concentration can be extrapolated from the curve . the efficiency of 7 - hydroxymatairesinol as enterolactone precursor was also recently confirmed in human subjects and results showed that 4 week treatment with 7 - hydroxymatairesinol in capsule form resulted in sustained increase in circulating enterolactone concentration . the results are shown in fig2 . in brief , healthy male volunteers ingested capsule preparation of 7 - hydroxymatairesinol , at total daily dose of 315 mg , divided in three 105 mg portion for morning , afternoon and evening dose . the subjects ingested the product continuously for 29 days . the level of enterolactone was measured from plasma at 0 , 0 . 5 , 1 , 3 , 4 , 4 . 5 , 5 , 8 , 10 , 10 . 5 , 12 and 24 hours after the first daily 105 mg 7 - hmr dose on experimental test days 1 and 29 . the levels were measured with a high - performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometer system ( applied biosystems inc .). it will be appreciated that the methods of the present invention can be incorporated in the form of a variety of embodiments , only a few of which are disclosed herein . it will be apparent for the expert skilled in the field that other embodiments exist and do not depart from the spirit of the invention . thus , the described embodiments are illustrative and should not be construed as restrictive . 1 . ayres d , and loike , j . lignans : chemical , bilogical and clinical properties . cambridge university press , 1990 . 2 . ekman r : distribution of lignans in norway spruce . acta academiae aboensis , ser b , 39 : 1 - 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