Mucuna pruriens · PhytoNexus

01 Identity and provenance

Accepted binomial: Mucuna pruriens
Common names: Mucuna
Family (APG IV): Fabaceae
Part used: Seed
Verification tier: Tier 2 · Unverified Clinical columns are populated but no primary reference was supplied. Treat the interaction list as a hypothesis to be checked against literature.

02 Constituent chemistry

Chemical class	Marker compound	Synthetic analogue in use
L-Dopa, alkaloids	L-Dopa Seed	Levodopa

The analogue column is what makes the interaction reasoning tractable: where a constituent has a marketed structural counterpart, the counterpart's interaction profile is the starting hypothesis for the plant.

Looking up structures and physicochemical properties from PubChem…

03 Stated application

Reported activity: Parkinson's disease, male infertility, neuroprotective
Marketed in: Himalaya wellness- kapikacchu tablets
Reported adverse effects: nausea, vomiting, dyskinesia, hypotension

04 Interaction matrix

Source column, verbatim: levodopa preparation, MAO inhibitors, Antipsychotic
Normalised onto 3 canonical drug classes below.

Curated from the reviewed source

Drug class	Severity	Mechanism type	Provenance	Expected effect
Antipsychotics CNS	4Contraindicated	PD-additive + PK-CYP	curated A	Extrapyramidal symptoms, QT prolongation, excess sedation, or loss of ant…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Plant-derived L-DOPA is the identical molecule to the prescribed drug and is absorbed by the same LAT1 transporter. Class mechanism. Additive dopaminergic blockade, QT prolongation and sedation, plus CYP1A2, 2D6 and 3A4 modulation of clozapine, risperidone and quetiapine exposure. Expected Extrapyramidal symptoms, QT prolongation, excess sedation, or loss of antipsychotic control with inducers. Management ECG if other QT-prolonging agents are present. Consider clozapine level monitoring where inducers are stopped or started. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “antipsychotic” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Levodopa and antiparkinsonian drugs CNS	4Contraindicated	PK-absorption + PD-antagonistic	curated A	Dyskinesia and hypotension from additive L-DOPA; unpredictable off period…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Plant-derived L-DOPA is the identical molecule to the prescribed drug and is absorbed by the same LAT1 transporter. Class mechanism. Mucuna species contain L-DOPA itself, so co-administration is unblinded dose escalation. High-protein and high-pyridoxine botanical products reduce levodopa absorption and central availability, and dopamine-antagonist constituents oppose its effect. Expected Dyskinesia and hypotension from additive L-DOPA; unpredictable off periods and motor fluctuation from reduced absorption. Management Count botanical L-DOPA in the total daily dose. Keep dosing separate from protein-rich products by at least 30 minutes. Onset unspecified Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “levodopa preparation” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors CNS	4Contraindicated	PD-additive	curated A	Hypertensive crisis, hyperpyrexia, serotonin syndrome, intracranial haemo…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Plant-derived L-DOPA is the identical molecule to the prescribed drug and is absorbed by the same LAT1 transporter. Class mechanism. Beta-carboline (harmine, harmaline) and related botanical alkaloids are themselves reversible MAO-A inhibitors. Combined with a prescribed MAOI, or with tyramine-rich food or sympathomimetics, the pressor and serotonergic reserve is abolished. Expected Hypertensive crisis, hyperpyrexia, serotonin syndrome, intracranial haemorrhage. Management Absolute contraindication. Apply the full MAOI dietary and drug restriction list to the botanical as well. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “mao inhibitors” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism

Predicted from constituent chemistry

These edges are not clinical findings. Each one is a rule inference: a constituent class in this plant is known to act on a target that the drug class also acts on. They are shown because a blank cell reads as “safe”, and for a Tier 1 entry a blank cell only means “not yet looked at”. Treat them as a literature-search agenda, not as a warning.

Drug class	Severity	Mechanism type	Provenance	Expected effect
Narrow-therapeutic-index CYP3A4 substrates Pharmacokinetic	4Contraindicated	PK-CYP3A4	predicted D	Toxic accumulation or subtherapeutic failure of the co-prescribed drug, s…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Alkaloidal bases have pH-dependent absorption and commonly interact with hepatic CYP isoenzymes and efflux transporters. Class mechanism. Furanocoumarins, bergamottin, piperine, glabridin and berberine inhibit CYP3A4; hyperforin, andrographolide and several diterpenes induce it through PXR. Because CYP3A4 handles roughly half of marketed drugs, the affected list is broad and the direction is product-specific. Expected Toxic accumulation or subtherapeutic failure of the co-prescribed drug, sometimes fatal for antiarrhythmics, immunosuppressants and oncology agents. Management Screen the full regimen for 3A4 substrates. Where the substrate has a narrow index, avoid rather than monitor. Onset unspecified Evidence D - in silico rule prediction only Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Antacids, PPIs and H2 blockers Gastrointestinal	2Moderate	PK-absorption	predicted D	Reduced or erratic absorption of alkaloids; heartburn and reflux from pre…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Alkaloidal bases have pH-dependent absorption and commonly interact with hepatic CYP isoenzymes and efflux transporters. Class mechanism. Gastric pH elevation alters the dissolution and ionisation of alkaloidal and enteric-coated botanical products; menthol- and peppermint-oil products lose their enteric protection at high pH and can be released prematurely. Expected Reduced or erratic absorption of alkaloids; heartburn and reflux from premature release of volatile-oil preparations. Management Separate administration by 2 hours. Avoid non-enteric peppermint oil in reflux disease. Onset unspecified Evidence D - in silico rule prediction only Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism

05 Hazard register

The audit recorded no hazard beyond the interaction profile. The controlled-vocabulary field reads not assessed, which means the assessment has not been done rather than that it came back clear.

06 Confusable material

No same-genus or shared-common-name entry in the corpus.

07 Mechanism map

Chemistry sorts to the left, pharmacology to the right. Dashed edges are predicted. Drag nodes, scroll to zoom, export at 3× for a figure.

species

chemical class

marker compound

drug class

expected effect

hazard

08 Open literature

Abstract-scoped query built from this binomial, its common names and its marker compounds, run live against Europe PMC, PubMed and OpenAlex, then ranked locally against an evidence hierarchy.

Checking openFDA spontaneous reports…

09 Isomechanistic neighbours

Species whose interaction profile overlaps this one, ranked by shared severity weight rather than by count — a shared contraindication counts for more than a shared minor signal. Practical use: these are the plants you should not stack with this one, because the mechanisms summate.

Species	Family	Shared classes	Jaccard
Piper methysticum Kava	Piperaceae	4	0.36
Atropa belladonna Belladonna	Solanaceae	3	0.43
Hyoscyamus niger Henbane	Solanaceae	3	0.43
Datura stramonium Datura	Solanaceae	3	0.43
Erythroxylum coca Coca	Erythroxylaceae	3	0.43
Cytisus scoparius Scotch Broom	Fabaceae	3	0.60

10 References and notes

Source column: WHO Monographs; PubMed

WHO Monographs

Official monograph manual

PubMed

manual

BibTeX for all 2 records

@article{anon,
  title = {WHO Monographs},
}

@article{anon,
  title = {PubMed},
}

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