User:Bertoniangelina/sandbox

Medicinal Use
P. incarnata is used to treat anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, asthma and ADHD. Some side effects has been reported, like dizziness, confusion and nausea. Methanol extractions from the leaves has been reported to be an effective antitussive in mice and are effective to treat anxiety.

The plant can be used to treat Diabetes mellitus as the extractions of leaves contain high hypergylcemic activity by lowering the blood glucose level.

Substances
The main substances in P. incarnata are flavonoids, but also alkaloids and other phyto-constituents can be found. Flavonoids are the main component in P. incarnata. They can reach up to 2.5% of the total content. The greatest concentration of flavonoids has been reported to be in the leaves. Following flavonoids can be found in P. incarnata: chrysin, apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, kaempferol and isovitexin. The flavonoid chrysin is thought to be the main substance responsible for the sedative effect of P. incarnata. The anxiety-reducing property is caused by the binding of chrysin to GABA-Benzodiazepinreceptors. Little amounts of alkaloids has been reported in P. incarnata (<0.005%). Examples for alkaloids are: harmol, harmine, harmalol. Other substances existing in P. incarnata includes mono- and polysaccharids, amino acids and essential oils.