Botanical Dietary Supplements for Women's Health

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The UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements Research was established in the fall of 1999 to address the issues of standardization, quality, safety, and efficacy of botanical dietary supplements. The Center then adopted and will continue to implement a multidisciplinary strategy to achieve its basic and clinical research objectives. Participating faculty Co-investigators and collaborators are drawn from the Departments of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and Biopharmaceutical Sciences in the College of Pharmacy; the Department of Medicine (Section of Endocrinology and Metabolism) in the College of Medicine; and the Department of Math, Statistics, and Computer Science in the College of Liberal Arts. The Center studies botanicals with potential benefits for women's health, focusing on plants that are reported to alleviate the symptoms of menopause and premenstrual syndrome. Botanical extracts are subjected to rigorous chemical evaluation followed by both in vitro and in vivo biological testing. Standardized botanical extracts that appear efficacious and demonstrate adequate safety profiles in in vitro and animal models will be candidates for clinical, Phase I trials. Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) will undergo Phase I evaluation in this grant cycle. In order to achieve this comprehensive agenda for the development of chemically- and biologically-standardized botanical dietary supplements, the renewed BRC research program will be organized around three Projects, supported by two Cores: Project by Farnsworth, Standardization of Botanicals; Project by Bolton, Mechanism of Action of Botanicals (Menopause); Project by van Breemen, Studies of Metabolism, Bioavailability, and Toxicity; Administration and Development Core and Analytical Core. The administration and Development Core will administer two additional programs: a Pilot Project Program and a Training and Career Development Program. The experiments proposed in this application will greatly enhance our understanding of the mechanism of action of botanicals and whether they are safe and efficacious for women's health.