This application determines if a highly standardized herbal extract of the leaves of the Ginko biloba tree, widely used in Europe for two decades, will benefit patients who have pain on walking due to narrowing of the arteries of the legs. A few studies done about ten years ago in Germany appeared to benefit such patients. It is important to confirm these findings and to learn how it may work. Animal studies suggest that this extract, known as EGb 761, works through very strong antioxidant mechanisms. A second action suggested is that is stimulates cells lining the inside of the arteries to produce the compound nitric oxide. These cells, known as endothelial cells, are susceptible to damage by blood cholesterol, smoking or high blood pressure and, when damaged, will allow cholesterol to deposit in arteries. Antioxidants can prevent the endothelial cell damage, therefore it is very important to know if EGb 761 works through this mechanism. These cells also produce nitric oxide naturally as a defense against injury, so an EGb 761 effect on nitric oxide would also provide benefit.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AT000204-03
Application #
6533081
Study Section
Nutrition Study Section (NTN)
Program Officer
Wong, Shan S
Project Start
2000-09-29
Project End
2005-07-31
Budget Start
2003-02-01
Budget End
2005-07-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$392,500
Indirect Cost
Name
Stanford University
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
009214214
City
Stanford
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94305
Hashmi, Javeria Ali; Kong, Jian; Spaeth, Rosa et al. (2014) Functional network architecture predicts psychologically mediated analgesia related to treatment in chronic knee pain patients. J Neurosci 34:3924-36
Maxwell, Andrew J; Niebauer, Josef; Lin, Patrick S et al. (2009) Hypercholesterolemia impairs exercise capacity in mice. Vasc Med 14:249-57
Gardner, Christopher D; Taylor-Piliae, Ruth E; Kiazand, Alexandre et al. (2008) Effect of Ginkgo biloba (EGb 761) on treadmill walking time among adults with peripheral artery disease: a randomized clinical trial. J Cardiopulm Rehabil Prev 28:258-65
Cooke, John P (2007) Angiogenesis and the role of the endothelial nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Life Sci 80:2347-51
Gardner, Christopher D; Zehnder, James L; Rigby, Alison J et al. (2007) Effect of Ginkgo biloba (EGb 761) and aspirin on platelet aggregation and platelet function analysis among older adults at risk of cardiovascular disease: a randomized clinical trial. Blood Coagul Fibrinolysis 18:787-93
Konishi, Hakuoh; Sydow, Karsten; Cooke, John P (2007) Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase promotes endothelial repair after vascular injury. J Am Coll Cardiol 49:1099-105
Schulze, Friedrich; Wesemann, Reinhard; Schwedhelm, Edzard et al. (2004) Determination of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) using a novel ELISA assay. Clin Chem Lab Med 42:1377-83
Ho, Hoai-Ky V; Jang, James J; Kaji, Shuichiro et al. (2004) Developmental endothelial locus-1 (Del-1), a novel angiogenic protein: its role in ischemia. Circulation 109:1314-9
Cooke, John P; Bitterman, Haim (2004) Nicotine and angiogenesis: a new paradigm for tobacco-related diseases. Ann Med 36:33-40
Cooke, John P (2004) The pivotal role of nitric oxide for vascular health. Can J Cardiol 20 Suppl B:7B-15B

Showing the most recent 10 out of 14 publications