American Indian Botanicals: Possible Alternatives to Hormone Therapy During Menopause

Although pharmaceutical hormone therapy (HT) remains the standard clinical treatment for managing menopausal symptoms, many women seek alternatives such as botanical dietary supplements because HT has been associated with increased risks of breast cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke. The leading botanicals that women take for menopause are black cohosh and red clover, which were also traditionally used by American Indians. While these two botanicals have been investigated extensively, there are still numerous American Indian plants that lack scientific studies on their safety and efficacy. In collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden, 15 native plants were evaluated for potential women's health-related benefits. Amorpha canescens Pursh. (Fabaceae) – Leadplant, Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & A. Gray (Cucurbitaceae) – wild cucumber, and Silphium perfoliatum L. (Asteraceae) - cup plant inflorescent tissue were screened for estrogenicity, chemopreventive, and anti-inflammatory potential based on American Indian ethnobotany and published biological data. Leadplant MeOH extract was selected as the best candidate for bioassay-guided fractionation due to dose-dependent (40, 20, 10, 5, 2.5, 1.25 µg/mL) anti-estrogenic and anti-inflammatory activity in the Ishikawa and Griess assays (n = 9). However, leadplant extract (20 µg/mL) demonstrated low activity in the NQO1 induction assay for chemopreventive potential (n = 6). Currently, bioassay guided-fractionation is being performed on leadplant to ascertain the active constituents.