Abstract
Ancient Hindu Ayurvedic texts described the use of extracts from Coleus species. An isolated diterpene from Coleus forskohlii, called forskolin, was demonstrated to be a hypotensive agent with spasmolytic, cardiotonic
and platelet aggregation inhibitory activity. It has been shown to be a powerful activator
of the enzyme adenylate cyclase in various tissues. Forskolin is thought to act on
the catalytic subunit and also on the coupling mechanism of guanine regulatory sites
(Ns and Ni) with the catalytic subunit. It is now clear that forskolin elicits physiological
responses which have been shown to be cAMP-dependent.
