JP2020055760A - Ellagic acid-containing composition - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a novel use of ellagic acid.SOLUTION: Ellagic acid can be used as an active ingredient of a phosphodiesterase 5 activity inhibitory composition, a cGMP decomposition inhibitory or concentration rising composition, a penis internal pressure rising composition, a penis erection function deterioration inhibitory composition, and/or a prostatic hyperplasia mitigating composition.SELECTED DRAWING: None

Description

  The present invention relates to a new use of ellagic acid based on the new action found for ellagic acid.

  Ellagic acid is a polyphenol contained in nuts such as walnuts and cashew nuts; eucalyptus leaves and the like. It is known that it can also be obtained by hydrolysis of ellagitannin or heating of gallic acid. Ellagic acid has hitherto been used as an antioxidant in food additives and as a whitening component of cosmetics based on its antioxidant action. Further, in recent years, various effects including pharmacological effects have been found by research on ellagic acid, and various uses have been proposed based on the effects. Such uses include, for example, glucosyltransferase inhibitors (Patent Document 1), antioxidants (Patent Document 2), agents for preventing or treating diseases caused by high blood lipid levels (Patent Document 3), apoptosis inducers (Patent Document 3). Reference 4), an anti-H. Pylori composition (Patent Document 5), an agent for preventing or improving arthritis (Patent Document 6), a uric acid excretion promoter (Patent Document 7), and a polyphenol stabilizer (Patent Document 8).

  However, it is not known that ellagic acid has an activity of inhibiting the activity of phosphodiesterase (PDE).

  Phosphodiesterase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes cyclic GMP (cGMP) and cyclic AMP (cAMP), and a plurality of families exist in mammals. Among them, phosphodiesterase 5 (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as “PDE5” in the present specification) is mainly involved in cGMP degradation. cGMP acts as an intracellular second messenger, relaxing smooth muscle and increasing blood flow. Therefore, by suppressing the activity of PDE5, smooth muscle relaxes and blood flow increases.

  Conventionally, PDE5 inhibitors have been known as drugs utilizing this action, and typical examples thereof include drugs containing sildenafil citrate as an active ingredient. PDE5 inhibitors are used to improve symptoms such as decreased penile erectile function, reduced bladder and prostate function, and pulmonary hypertension by inhibiting PDE5 activity and suppressing cGMP degradation and increasing local blood flow. Have been.

JP-A-01-10985 JP-A-04-239593 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-524777 JP-A-2002-308763 JP 2004-352644 A JP 2005-47817 A JP 2006-273762 A WO2013 / 141267 JP 2018-43994 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide a new use of ellagic acid. Specifically, it is used as a PDE5 activity inhibitor, used as an agent for suppressing or degrading the degradation of cGMP, used as an agent for increasing penile pressure, used as an inhibitor for lowering penile erectile function, or used as an agent for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy. The purpose is to provide the use of.

  The present inventors have been studying the effects of ellagic acid, and as shown in the Examples described below, the PDE5 activity inhibitory effect, cGMP degradation suppression or concentration increasing effect, and penile pressure increasing effect were observed. It was found that ellagic acid was useful as an active ingredient for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function and as an active ingredient for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy. The present invention has been completed by further research based on such findings, and includes the following embodiments.

(1) A composition for inhibiting PDE5 activity comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.
(2) A composition for suppressing cGMP degradation or increasing its concentration, which contains ellagic acid as an active ingredient.
(3) A composition for increasing penile pressure, which contains ellagic acid as an active ingredient.
(4) A composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.
(5) A composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.
(6) The composition according to any one of (1) to (5), which is a food and drink composition, a pharmaceutical composition or a feed composition.
(7) For the production of a composition for inhibiting PDE5 activity, a composition for suppressing the degradation or increasing the concentration of cGMP, a composition for increasing the pressure in the penis, a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function, or a composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy Use of ellagic acid.

  According to the present invention, a new use of ellagic acid can be provided. Specifically, ellagic acid can be used for its production as an active ingredient of a composition for inhibiting PDE5 activity based on the PDE5 activity inhibiting action of ellagic acid. In addition, ellagic acid can be used for its production as an active ingredient of a composition for suppressing cGMP decomposition or increasing its concentration, based on the action of suppressing or increasing the concentration of cGMP possessed by ellagic acid. Furthermore, ellagic acid can be used for its production as an active ingredient of the composition for increasing penile pressure, based on the action of increasing the pressure inside the penis possessed by ellagic acid. Further, ellagic acid can be used for its production as an active ingredient of a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function, specifically, a composition for preventing or improving the decrease in penile erectile function, based on the above action. Ellagic acid can be used for its production as an active ingredient of a composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy, preferably a composition for preventing or improving prostatic hypertrophy, based on the above action.

In Experimental Example 2, the distilled water administration group (negative control group: “control” in the figure), the sildenafil administration group (positive control group: “sildenafil” in the figure), and the ellagic acid administration group (“ellagic acid” in the figure) The results (mean ± SEM) of measurement of penile pressure after administration of each test sample are shown.

(I) Use of ellagic acid A composition for inhibiting PDE5 activity, a composition for suppressing the degradation or increasing the concentration of cGMP, a composition for increasing the pressure in the penis, a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function, and the prostate, which are the objects of the present invention. All the compositions for alleviating hypertrophy (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as "the composition of the present invention") are characterized by using ellagic acid as an active ingredient.

  The ellagic acid used in the production of the composition of the present invention is preferably a purified product (pure product). However, as long as the effects of the present invention are exhibited, the ellagic acid is not limited to this and may be a crude product. Examples of the crudely purified product include an ellagic acid fraction prepared from a plant containing ellagic acid. In addition, as a plant containing ellagic acid, fruits of plants such as pomegranate, strawberry, raspberry, cranberry, blackberry, strawberry, grape, walnut, chestnut, and pecan are known (see Patent Documents 8 and 9). . Also, ellagitannins such as punicalazine are known to generate ellagic acid by acid decomposition. For this reason, as the partially purified product containing ellagic acid, an ellagic acid fraction prepared from a plant containing ellagitannin by acid decomposition treatment or the like can be used. The ellagic acid fraction targeted by the present invention is extracted once from a plant part containing ellagic acid with one kind of solvent (water; alcohol of methanol or ethanol; hydrous alcohol, etc.), then filtered and concentrated. To obtain a fraction with a high degree of purification (purity) of ellagic acid, or to obtain a concentrated fraction containing a high concentration of ellagic acid, solvent extraction may be repeated several times. , Molecular weight filtration, size exclusion chromatography, or ion exchange chromatography. Specifically, a fraction in which components other than ellagic acid are removed from the ellagic acid-containing fraction to increase the ellagic acid content to 50% by mass or more can be exemplified. The ellagic acid content in the ellagic acid fraction prepared from a plant is preferably 60% by mass or more, more preferably 70% by mass or more, further preferably 80% by mass or more, particularly preferably 90% by mass or more and 100% by mass. It is as follows.

  The composition for inhibiting PDE5 activity of the present invention can inhibit PDE5 activity based on the PDE5 activity inhibitory action of ellagic acid as an active ingredient, as shown in Experimental Example 1 described later. When the activity of PDE5 is inhibited in smooth muscle tissue, the degradation of cGMP into 5'-GMP is inhibited, resulting in an increase in cGMP concentration as shown in Experimental Example 2. For this reason, ellagic acid has an effect of suppressing the degradation of cGMP or inducing an increase in the cGMP concentration through a PDE5 activity inhibitory effect. In this sense, the present invention also provides a composition for suppressing cGMP degradation or a composition for increasing cGMP concentration, which contains ellagic acid as an active ingredient. In addition, the smooth muscle relaxes due to the increase in the cGMP concentration in the smooth muscle tissue. This increases blood flow to the corpus cavernosum, thereby suppressing (preventing) a decrease in penile erectile function and improving penile erectile function. This is also confirmed from the fact that oral administration of ellagic acid to rats significantly increases penile pressure in Experimental Example 3 described below. In other words, ellagic acid has a penile pressure-increasing action, and can be used as an active ingredient of a composition for increasing penile pressure as described above, and further, as an active ingredient of a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function. Further, ellagic acid can also reduce prostatic hypertrophy by increasing blood flow in the prostate and the urethra based on the smooth muscle relaxing action described above. Therefore, the present invention provides a composition for increasing penile pressure, a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function, and a composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy, comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient. From these facts, the composition of the present invention can be preferably applied to a subject who is concerned about male function and a subject who is concerned about urination function, particularly for male subjects.

  These compositions of the present invention can be prepared and provided in the form of pharmaceuticals or quasi-drugs, or food and drink for humans, or be prepared and provided in the form of feed for animals. Can be.

(II) Form of the composition of the present invention
(1) Pharmaceutical or quasi-drug The composition of the present invention comprises, in addition to ellagic acid, a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or additive depending on the preparation form (dosage form), if necessary, to prepare various agents. It can be prepared as a pharmaceutical or quasi-drug in form. Pharmaceuticals or quasi-drugs preferably include oral dosage forms of pharmaceuticals or quasi-drugs. Examples of such pharmaceuticals or quasi-drugs include, but are not limited to, tablets (including coated tablets such as sugar-coated tablets), capsules (including hard capsules and soft capsules), granules, powders, syrups, and intestines. It can be prepared as a preparation having an oral administration form (form) such as a solvent, a troche and a drink. Preparations of such formulations having various dosage forms can be carried out according to a conventional method, and the carriers and additives used are not particularly limited. For example, pharmaceutically acceptable excipients (sorbitol, glucose, lactose, dextrin, sugars such as starch, inorganic substances such as calcium carbonate, crystalline cellulose, distilled water, sesame oil, corn oil, olive oil, rapeseed oil, etc.), liquid carriers (Distilled water, physiological saline, aqueous glucose solution, alcohols such as ethanol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, etc.), oily carriers (various animal and vegetable oils, white petrolatum, paraffin, waxes, etc.), stabilizers, wetting agents, emulsifiers , Binders, isotonic agents, disintegrants, lubricants, bulking agents, surfactants, dispersants, suspending agents, diluents, osmotic agents, pH adjusters, preservatives, antioxidants, coloring Agents, ultraviolet absorbers, humectants, thickeners, brighteners, buffering agents, preservatives, flavoring agents, fragrances, coating agents, odor correctors, bacterial inhibitors, etc. can be used without limitation.

  The drug or quasi-drug can be used for the above-mentioned uses (inhibition of PDE5 activity, suppression of cGMP degradation or concentration increase, increase in penile pressure, suppression of decrease in penile erectile function, alleviation of prostatic hypertrophy). Especially as a PDE5 activity inhibitor, an agent for preventing or treating penile erectile dysfunction (dysfunction), or an agent for preventing or treating prostatic hypertrophy, especially for men, those who are concerned about male functions and those who are concerned about urination functions Can be applied.

  Although the amount of ellagic acid (active ingredient) in the composition of the present invention in the form of a drug or a quasi-drug differs according to the obstacle to be applied, its degree, and the form of the drug, etc., it is not limited. The solid content concentration can be selected from the range of 1 to 100% by mass, preferably the range of 10 to 60% by mass, more preferably the range of 25 to 55% by mass.

  The administration or intake of the composition of the present invention in the form of a drug or a quasi-drug depends on the condition, body weight, gender, age, type of ellagic acid to be incorporated as an active ingredient, or other factors of the subject (patient) Is appropriately selected and determined according to the above. Although not limited, for example, the daily administration or intake for humans can be appropriately set in the range of 0.15 to 85 mg / kg in terms of the administration or intake of ellagic acid. The dose to humans or the amount of intake is generally based on the human equivalent dose (HED) 6.2 based on the body surface area in rats (see "Guidance for Industry Estimating the Maximum Safe Starting Dose in Initial Clinical Trials for Therapeutics in Adult Healthy Volunteers"). Can be calculated from It is preferably 0.5 to 50 mg / kg, and more preferably a range of 1 to 20 mg / kg. The composition of the present invention can be taken and administered once to several times a day, or at any time and interval.

(2) Food and drink When the composition of the present invention is prepared as food and drink, its form is not particularly limited as long as it is a form suitable for food or drink. In addition to being able to be prepared into foods and drinks (obvious foods) in the form of general foods and drinks, tablets (including coated tablets such as sugar-coated tablets) and capsules (including hard capsules and soft capsules), like the aforementioned pharmaceuticals , Granules, powders (powder), syrups, enteric agents, troches, drinks and the like, and these preparations may be packaged in small portions. In these foods and drinks, in addition to ellagic acid described above, for example, additives such as sweeteners, coloring agents, antioxidants, vitamins, flavors, minerals, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, etc. The general food raw materials described above may be appropriately combined and blended.

  The type and form of the obvious food are not particularly limited, and for example, processed flour foods represented by bread, noodles, etc .; porridge, processed rice foods such as cooked rice; biscuits, cakes, jellies, chocolate, rice crackers, Confectionery such as ice cream; processed soybean foods such as tofu and processed foods; beverages such as soft drinks, fruit drinks, milk drinks, carbonated drinks; dairy products such as yogurt, cheese, butter, milk; soy sauce, sauces, Seasonings such as miso, mayonnaise, dressing, etc .; processed foods including meat storage such as ham, bacon, sausage; processed foods including seafood such as hampon and chikuwa; and other prepared dishes such as processed foods. These may be in the form of oral enteral nutritional foods such as concentrated liquid foods, natural liquid foods, semi-digestive nutritional foods, component nutritional foods, and drink nutritional foods.

  The composition of the present invention in the form of a food or drink is selected from the group consisting of PDE5 activity inhibitory action, cGMP degradation or concentration increasing action, penile pressure increase action, penile erectile function reduction inhibitory action, and prostate hypertrophy alleviating action. It has at least one function, and can be used for applications utilizing these functions. In particular, the concept is to prevent or ameliorate penile erectile dysfunction or dysfunction based on these mechanisms of action, and / or to prevent or ameliorate urinary dysfunction due to prostatic hypertrophy. It can be in the form of a functional food or drink (functionally labeled food or food for specified health use) displayed as a functional claim or health claim. In this case, the food and drink of the present invention can be applied to a subject who is concerned about a male function and a subject who is concerned about a urination function, particularly for a male. When such foods and drinks are applied to mammals other than humans having the above symptoms, the foods and drinks can be positioned as feed.

  The amount of ellagic acid (active ingredient) in the composition of the present invention having the form of food and drink depends on the symptoms to be applied and its degree, and also on the form of food and drink, etc., and is not limited. As long as it plays, the solid content concentration can be selected from the range of 1 to 100% by mass, preferably 10 to 60% by mass, more preferably 25 to 55% by mass.

  The intake amount of the composition of the present invention in the form of food or drink is appropriately selected and determined according to the condition, weight, sex, age, or other factors of the subject (ingested individual). For example, the daily intake can be appropriately set in the range of 0.15 to 85 mg / kg in terms of the intake of ellagic acid. It is preferably 0.5 to 50 mg / kg, and more preferably a range of 1 to 20 mg / kg. The composition of the present invention can be taken and administered once to several times a day, or at any time and interval.

  Hereinafter, the configuration and effect of the present invention will be described in more detail based on examples and experimental examples. However, the present invention is not limited to these Examples and Experimental Examples. The following experiments were performed at room temperature (25 ± 5 ° C.) and atmospheric pressure, unless otherwise specified. In the experiment, ellagic acid obtained from Sigma was used.

Experimental Example 1 Measurement of phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE5) inhibitory activity The inhibitory activity of ellagic acid on PDE5 was measured (n = 1). In this measurement, using a PDE5A Assay Kit (♯60350) (manufactured by BPS Bioscience), 96-well plate, Pipetteman, PerkinElmer EnVision 2102 Multilabel Reader (manufactured by PerkinElmer), a PDE5A Assay Kit (hereinafter simply referred to as “kit”) ), The inhibitory activity was measured in accordance with the accompanying protocol.

1. Experimental methodElagic acid was previously mixed with dimethyl sulfoxide to make a 10 mM ellagic acid-containing solution, and then mixed with 5 μL of the ellagic acid-containing solution and 495 μL of sterilized water to prepare a sample solution (ellagic acid concentration of 100 μM) as follows. It was used for the experiment.
First, 25 μL of the diluted and prepared FAM-Cyclic-3 ′, 5′-GMP was added to each well (Test, Substrate control, and Positive control wells) except for the blank well. On the other hand, 25 μL of the PDE assay buffer included in the kit was added to the blank wells. 5 μL of the sample solution was further added to the wells for Test, and 5 μL of the sample solvent (DMSO: sterile water = 1: 99) was further added to the wells for Blank, Substrate control, and Positive control. Next, 20 μL of PDE assay buffer was added to the wells for Blank and Substrate control. On the other hand, to the wells for Test and Positive control, 20 µL of diluted PDE5A was added (200 pg / well). The test liquid (50 μL each) of each well (Test, Blank, Substrate control, and Positive control) thus prepared was reacted at 25 ° C. for 1 hour, and then 100 μL of the diluted binding agent was added to each well. At 25 ° C. for 30 minutes with vigorous shaking. After the reaction was completed, the fluorescence polarization was measured with a plate reader (Excitation: 480 nm, Emission: 535 nm). By subtracting the blank value from each measured value, the degree of fluorescence polarization for each of Test, Substrate control, and Positive control was calculated, and the inhibition rate of PDE5 activity was determined based on the following equation.

2. Results The results are shown in Table 1. Table 1 shows the inhibition rate (%) of PDE5 activity by ellagic acid.

  As shown in Table 1, it was found that ellagic acid has a strong effect of inhibiting the activity of PDE5.

Experimental Example 2 Measurement of the amount of cGMP in the penis The effect of ellagic acid on the amount of cGMP (cyclic guanosine monophosphate) in penile tissue was evaluated.

1. Test animals, test samples For the main measurement, SD male rats (body weight: about 250 g / animal), cGMP ELISA kit (catalog number: ADI-900-014, manufactured by Enzo Life Science), PerkinElmer EnVision 2102 Multilabel Reader (PerkinElmer (Manufactured by Sharp Corporation).

2. Experimental method Specifically, 2 g of ellagic acid and 8 mL of distilled water were mixed to prepare a solution containing ellagic acid (500 mg / 2 mL / kg body weight) immediately before administration. The prepared ellagic acid-containing solution was administered to the stomach of rats by a sonde 0 and 24 hours after the start of the test (n = 8). Twenty-five hours after the start of the test, the rats were euthanized by excessive anesthesia, and penile tissues (about 2 cm) were extracted. After measuring the tissue weight, it was cryopreserved using liquid nitrogen. A 10-fold amount (weight) of 0.1 N hydrochloric acid was added to the frozen tissue and subjected to ultrasonic crushing. The dispersed tissue was centrifuged at 600 G / 10 min, the supernatant was collected, dispensed into a microtube, and stored frozen at −80 ° C. until the experiment. In the measurement, the amount of cGMP in penis tissue was measured by ELISA according to the method described in the cGMP ELISA kit. As a control experiment, the amount of cGMP in penile tissue was measured in the same manner as described above except that distilled water was administered into the rat stomach instead of the ellagic acid-containing solution. As a result, the cGMP amount at the time of administration of the ellagic acid-containing solution was higher than the cGMP amount at the time of administration of distilled water. From this, it was confirmed that the administration of ellagic acid suppressed the degradation of cGMP and increased the cGMP concentration. In sum with the inhibitory effect of ellagic acid on PDE5 activity confirmed in Experimental Example 1 described above, administration of ellagic acid improves local blood flow reduction due to smooth muscle relaxation and prevents symptoms caused by local blood flow reduction. Could be alleviated or improved. Specifically, the effect of improving penile erectile function by increasing blood flow to the corpus cavernosum and the effect of reducing or improving prostatic hypertrophy by increasing blood flow in the prostate and urethra can be expected.

Experimental Example 3 Measurement of Penile Pressure Elevation Effect The effect of ellagic acid on penile pressure was evaluated.

1. Test animals, test samples Rats (SD rats, male, 250 g) were used as test animals, and evaluation was performed by measuring the maximum penile pressure after administering the test samples. Ellagic acid was used as a test substance, and sildenafil, which is known to have a penile pressure increasing effect, was used as a positive control. All the test substances dissolved in distilled water were used as test samples (see Table 2) for the following experiments.

2. Experimental method As shown in Table 2, rats were divided into three groups (n = 8 for each group), distilled water was administered to the negative control group, sildenafil-containing aqueous solution was administered to the sildenafil administration group (positive control group), and ellagic acid was administered. To the group, an aqueous solution containing ellagic acid was intragastrically administered with a sonde after stirring. On the day after 24 hours from the administration, the same test sample was intragastrically administered to the rats of each group again by the same procedure. Immediately after intragastric administration, after confirming that there was no aspiration, urethane anesthesia under shallow isoflurane anesthesia (anesthesia was introduced with shallow isoflurane and then anesthesia with urethane) was performed. One hour after the effect of anesthesia appears, the penis of each group of rats is detached from the abdominal wall, and the dorsal nerve of the penis is identified. Then, a bipolar electrode was attached to the penile dorsal nerve, a 25G needle was inserted into the corpus cavernosum, and electrical stimulation (10-20 V, 20 pulse / s, pulse duration) was performed while saline was injected at a rate of 2 ml / h. 0.2 ms, train duration 30 s), and the penile pressure during electrical stimulation of the penile dorsal nerve was recorded.

3. FIG. 1 shows the experimental results . As shown in FIG. 1, in the ellagic acid administration group, it was confirmed that the pressure in the penis due to the electrical stimulation was extremely high. From this, it was confirmed that ellagic acid had a high penile pressure increasing effect.

Claims (7)

  A composition for inhibiting phosphodiesterase 5 activity, comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.   A composition for suppressing cGMP degradation or increasing its concentration, which comprises ellagic acid as an active ingredient.   A composition for increasing penile pressure, comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.   A composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.   A composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy comprising ellagic acid as an active ingredient.   The composition according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is a food and drink composition, a pharmaceutical composition or a feed composition.   Ellagic acid for the production of a composition for inhibiting phosphodiesterase 5 activity, a composition for suppressing or increasing the concentration of cGMP, a composition for increasing the pressure in the penis, a composition for suppressing a decrease in penile erectile function, or a composition for alleviating prostatic hypertrophy Use of.