ABSTRACT
In Capparis, the most reported, and first reported, alkaloid is stachydrine, which is the betaine of proline and is present in all parts of C. spinosa. Stachydrine is also present in a medicinal herb, Leonurus heterophyllus Sweet, used in traditional Chinese medicine to promote blood circulation and to mitigate blood stasis. Recent investigations showed pure stachydrine to significantly reduce anoxic damage in HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) through a mechanism involving reoxygenation tissue factor (TF) (Yin et al. 2010). In vivo, cerebral artery occlusion injury in rats responded favorably to intraperitoneal (i.p.) injections of the alkaloid-rich fraction of this herb as well (Liang et al. 2011), suggesting a possible role for Capparis alkaloid-rich fraction in the medical management of stroke.
