Fionuala Clarence
Overview of Drug Metabolism and Mechanisms of Interaction With Reference To Hypericum perforatum
Abstract
The issue of drug interaction is an increasingly important one. In light of recent reports of purported interaction between Hypericum and pharmaceuticals, it is an issue which herbalists will doubtless face increasingly in the future. In order to be able to assess the potential for interactions and their possible impact, it is vital that we have an understanding of how drugs are metabolised and factors which can affect their metabolism. A review is made of the Cytochrome P450 and how Hypericum is reported to affect this enzyme pathway. Consideration is given to the issue of standardised extracts which have been predominant in these cases, and to the question of the validity of animal derived data, where major inter-species differences have been shown in liver enzyme pathways.
