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Useful plants of dermatology. VIII. The false hellebore (Veratrum californicum).

McFerren MA

Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. mmcferren001@yahoo.com

Plants have and continue to provide medicine with an abundance of pharmacologically interesting and useful chemicals. In recent years, cyclopamine, a steroidal alkaloid isolated from Veratrum californicum, has been instrumental in dissecting the sonic hedgehog pathway. This brief report outlines cyclopamine's discovery with discussion of its potential application to clinical dermatology.

Published 20 March 2006 in J Am Acad Dermatol, 54(4): 718-20.
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