Current Research Areas
Medicinal
Our research team has found that the (+) and (-) enantiomers. respectively, of cis-bisdehyrodoisynolic acid (Z-BDDA) have specific physiological effects in males and females. The (+) enantiomer is very effective in reducing enlarged prostates (BPH) and shows excellent anti-prostate-cancer activity, with very little of the feminizing side effects commonly derived from prostate-cancer therapy. Our studies of the estrogenic carboxylic acids will be continued for the ongoing in vivo and in vitro (cell-line and receptor-binding) investigations being carried out by the Institute's physiology collaborators in the School of Medicine and College of Agriculture. We have developed syntheses of the enantiomeric cis-bisdehydrodoisynolic acids and 2-methoxyestradiol. More recently, our collaborators in anatomy and animal science provided strong evidence that neurological recovery from traumatic brain injury is facilitated by (±)-Z-BDDA.