Abstract
Licorice is the root of a perennial herb belonging to the genus Glycyrrhiza of the Fabaceae family and growing wild in arid regions. Licorice is one of the most important herbal medicines and is used in 70% of Kampo medicine formulas. Licorice contains nearly 500 ingredients, of which glycyrrhizin (GL) is the main ingredient, and its content is specified as 2.0% in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia. GL is also widely used in the food industry because of its extremely sweet taste. The high demand for GL in the world has led to over-collection of wild strains, which has caused desertification, a major social problem. In this paper, the author and co-workers have created a monoclonal antibody against GL, developed a new analytical method, the eastern blotting method, created and utilized a knockout extract, and isolated formononetin. Formononetin activates sperm, and is a component with unique activity, and we have described the status of its activity in mice. The author also mentioned the anti-cognitive activity of licorice and its constituents, GL and formononetin.
