Romanov, Mikhail S; Bobrov, Alexey V F Ch; Endress, Peter K (2013). Structure of the unusual explosive fruits of the early diverging angiosperm Illicium (Schisandraceae s.l., Austrobaileyales). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 171(4):640-654. ...

Austrobaileyales is an order of flowering plants, consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. Perhaps the most familiar species is Illicium verum, from which comes the spice star anise. The order belongs to the group of basal angiosperms, the ANA grade, which diverged earlier from the remaining flowering plants, and, as such, it is the extant group after the Amborellales and Nymphaeales, that is sister to all remaining extant angiosperms outside the ANA grade. The order includes just three families of flowering plants, the Austrobaileyaceae, a monotypic family containing the sole genus, Austrobaileya scandens, a woody liana, the Schisandraceae, a family of trees, shrubs, or lianas containing essential oils, and the Trimeniaceae, essential oil-bearing trees and lianas. Until the early 21st century, the order was only rarely recognised by systems of classification (an exception is the Reveal system). The APG system, of 1998, did not recognize such an order. ...

The Schisandraceae family is reported to have a range of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory effects. As with all herbal preparations, extracts of Schisandra species are mixtures composed of ,50 lignans including schizandrins and deoxyschizandrins. In China, Schisandra sphenanthera extract (SSE) is often co-administered with immunosuppressant treatment of transplant recipients. In cases of co-administration, the potential for herb-drug interactions (HDI) increases. Clinical studies have been employed to assess HDI of extracts including SSE. Clinical results demonstrated that chronic SSE administration reduced midazolam (MDZ) clearance by 55.4% in healthy volunteers. While clinical studies are definitive and considered the gold standard, these studies are impractical for routine HDI assessments. Alternatively, in vitro strategies can be utilized to reduce the need for clinical studies. Transporter Certified™ human hepatocytes in sandwich-culture (SCHH) provide a fully ...